With Some Scoobies on the Side Series
by PnAyLynn
Summary: This is a series of re-writes of most of the Angel episodes (and maybe some Buffy) with the Scoobies in the mix.
1. City of pt 1

Don't worry guys (ppl who actually read my writings)... I have every intention to finish "Mahal". In fact I just finished a chapter, all I have to do is type it up and send it out. I just wanted to show you guys the other thing I was writing, and just wanted your opinions. Thanks!

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. I got the transcripts from This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

E-MAIL: A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

Part 1

"City of..."

"Goodbye Sunnydale," Buffy mentally whispered as she stared out the window of the moving vehicle.

For the second time in her life, she was leaving everything behind her to move on to bigger, better things. Only this time, she wasn't alone.

"Smile for the camera Buffster," Xander said excitedly. Buffy turned her head from the window and saw one of her best friends handling a video camera, and aiming it straight at her. She smirked and waved goofily to humor him.

"So Miss Summers," he dropped his voice a couple octaves, and acted out as the narrator, "How does it feel to be finally rid of the clutches of the Hellmouth?"

The blonde slayer giggled and rolled her eyes, "Being a little melodramatic there, huh Xand?" The comic relief brunette just signaled her to keep going and answer his question, and once again she rolled her eyes, at the same time still smiling. "I finally feel free," she finally answered with much honesty.

"So no regrets leaving the slaying duties to Faith?"

"Are you kidding me? I mean I know that Giles made us promise to go back whenever something really bad goes down, and I still have duties to fulfill, but it feels like a big weight's been lifted off my shoulders, and I can be a normal girl for once."

"Oh! I miss Giles already," Willow exclaimed from her seat next to her driving boyfriend, Oz.

"Faith's probably given him a stroke by now," commented Xander, his camera still rolling, but was now focused on the red headed couple in the front.

"I'm sure the brandy's helping," Buffy joked, "And besides, if he handled all four of us at one time, I'm sure Faith will be a breeze."

"I still can't believe we're gonna be on our own. It's exciting," Willow bounced in her chair. Oz flashed her a grin and reached a hand to stroke her shorter, flipped out locks.

Ever since Angel disappeared without a trace, Buffy saw his face where ever she went. Every spot in Sunnydale held a memory; good or bad, it didn't matter, because it reminded her that he was gone, and maybe even dead, really dead, and the pain would intensify each day. So, when the day came when it became too much, and she finally wore out both her Jessica Simpson CD's for putting the songs "Where you Are" and "When you Told me" on repeat time and time again, she ran to Willow and suggested they quickly apply to UCLA instead of UC Sunnydale, before time ran out. After days of intense convincing and arguing on Buffy's part, Willow finally agreed, and dragged Oz and Xander in the mix.

Luckily, Willow, Oz, and Buffy got in the University, while Xander, knowing he'd never get in with his grades, applied to a community college. The girls got a nice, yet affordable apartment, with Xander and Oz a couple doors down, courtesy of the Harris', who were all too happy see their baby boy go, which was unsurprising to Xander. Although Giles was sad that his "children" were leaving, he knew it was best for them. He made them swear up and down that they'd visit, and not just for dire, apocalyptic emergencies. Joyce was in the same state as Giles when they left, only there were more tears.

After weeks of arrangements and packing and all those good stuff that goes with relocating, the Scoobies boarded Oz's van and branched out of Sunnydale, leaving the Hellmouth in the hands of Giles and Faith.

"Hey guys," Oz spoke up, "We're here." Buffy, Willow, and Xander cheered in excitement as Oz made the exit to enter Los Angeles.

"And now ladies and gentlemen," Xander said in his announcer voice, "I'd like to welcome you to the City of..." He caught Willow's glare and stopped himself before he said the "forbidden" A-word, so he wouldn't upset Buffy. "Ahem. Nevermind."

Buffy just gave him a small smile and patted his knee in reassurance. Once again, she gazed out the window to watch the scenery of the city she used to call home. She sighed and looked up at the night sky, silently asking the higher power up above for a sign to let her know that Angel was alive and okay. She turned her head to join the conversation amongst her friends, and missed the shooting star that flashed through the smogged filled sky.

* * *

Walking down the dark streets of LA, Angel listened intently to the Irish half demon, Doyle, explain to him his purpose as a warrior as they exited the liquor store Doyle had insisted on going to.

"It's not all about fighting and gadgets and stuff," Doyle said, holding his newly bought bottle of liquor wrapped in a paper bag, "It's about reaching out to people, showing them that there's love and hope still left in the world."

As he said that, a homeless lady they had passed on the street asked the two supernatural beings for change.

Doyle paused in the middle of his speech to glare at the poor woman in rags and told her harshly, "Get a job you lazy sow." The two passed on by with Angel deep in thought, not even paying attention to the homeless woman.

Immediately going back to his motivating tone, Doyle continued, "It's about letting them into your heart. It's not about saving lives; it's about saving souls," he grabbed the much taller man by the elbow to get his full attention and halted him in his steps. "Hey, possibly your own in the process."

Looking him straight into his blue eyes, Angel told him bluntly, "I want to know who sent you."

Doyle started walking again, "I'm not honestly sure. They don't speak to me direct. I get," he nodded upwards toward the sky, "visions. Which is to say great splitting migraines that come with pictures. A name, a face. I don't know who sends them. I just know whoever sends them is more powerful than me, or you, and they're just trying to make things right."

Angel stared thoughtfully at the ground. Why would the Powers come to him for help? He was just a lowly vampire with a pitiful, tortured soul.

"Why me," he voiced his thoughts.

"Because you've got potential. And the balance sheet isn't exactly in your favor."

Angel immediately stopped in his tracks and asked before the other man barely even finished his sentence, "Well why you?"

Sadness briefly crept onto Doyle's face, "We all have something to atone for," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper, changing the subject and leaving the answer at that, "Had a vision this morning. When the blinding pain stopped, I wrote this down."

The ensouled vampire glanced at the paper he took from Doyle. It read "Tina. Coffee Spot." He raised his eyebrows at the seer, "Tina," he said, a little annoyed that, that was all information he got. Now he knew how Buffy felt when he went all Cryptic Guy on her during the first few months he began talking to her.

"Nice looking girl, needs help."

"Help with what?"

"That's your business. I just take the names." He patted Angel on the back in a gracious manner.

"I don't get it. How am I supposed to know..."

"You're supposed to get into her life remember? Get involved. Look, high school's over boy. It's time to make with the grown up talk." Doyle walked around the perplexed Angel and hopped up onto a hood of a car.

"Why would a woman I've never met even talk to me?"

Doyle had to laugh at Angel's modesty, "Have you looked into a mirror lately?" As soon as it left his mouth, Doyle knew it was a dumb thing to say and his laughter died, "No, I guess you really haven't, no."

"I'm not good with people."

"Well that's the whole point of this exercise, isn't it? You game?"

TBC...

So should I continue this or no?

Lynn


	2. City of pt 2

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. I got the transcripts from Link to previous parts: http: This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

Thanks to everybody who sent me feedback!

Part 2

Sitting at the small table in the little coffee shop, Angel sipped at his coffee, trying to avoid the other group of customers and scanned for any clues that the mysterious Tina was around at the same time.

He really didn't want to be there. The last time he really "mingled" with the human crowd was when he was with Buffy. She always tended to put him at ease wherever they were at. Knowing that she was there made him more comfortable to be around a crowded area of people. To him, she was the only one that existed, so it really didn't matter.

That feeling was gone now. He left it behind in Sunnydale months ago, where he left her, his heart, his love, his everything.

While he sat and observed his surroundings, he pondered about what happened earlier. When he entered the Coffee Spot, he immediately had a vibe he always got whenever she was around. He saw a blonde sitting alone in the back, her back towards him, but he knew it couldn't have been Buffy, she was in Sunnydale, hopefully living the normal life he wanted for her. He figured it was his imagination getting the best of him. The loneliness after being with his soulmate for three years was getting to him. He missed her so much, but she deserved better, much better.

Hearing the name Tina, he remembered why he was there in the first place and watched as a guy and a blonde waitress, he assumed the girl he was looking for, talked behind a counter.

When their conversation about her wanting to clock in some extra hours ended, Tina started to walk towards Angel. Quickly trying to think of way to start a conversation with her, he spotted the shaggy white dog at the next table he saw earlier. He leaned forward so his forearms rested on his thighs.

As Tina got closer, Angel plastered on a hesitant smile and said, "Sure is a cute little," Tina passed by him without any acknowledgment and he finished his sentence to himself, feeling rather moronic, "doggie?" He sat back into his chair.

When Tina passed him again, Angel tried again, hoping that she would listen to him this time. "So do you... How late are you open?"

Finally, Tina turned around and stared at Angel questioningly, "Are you talking to me?"

Angel sighed in relief. The hard part of finding her and getting her attention was over. The trouble was, he didn't know where to go from there.

"Um... yeah," he answered, getting up from his chair to stand next to her while she cleared off another table.

"You wanted to know what time we close," she wondered, not looking up at him from her task at hand.

Angel played with his own fingers in a new nervous habit, getting way passed uncomfortable. "Well, um, no. Actually, I just wanted to know if you're... are you happy?"

She paused for a moment to look at him and furrow her eyebrows at the weird question, "What?"

"Well you looked sort of down."

Tina stared at the creepy yet handsome man suspiciously, "You've been watching me?"

"No," Angel quickly defended himself, not wanting to sound like some pervert stalker. "I was looking towards there," he pointed towards the door, "and you kind of walked through- there..." Well, he didn't want to sound sick, so he settled for just plain retarted. You're doing great Angel.

Tina had to smirk at his awkward attempt to save himself, "You don't hit on girls very often do you?"

Again, Angel felt relieved. The ice was finally starting to melt.

"No, it's been awhile. I'm sort of new in town."

"Do yourself a favor; don't stay." She grabbed the gray bin of small dishes and cups and went to turn away, but was stopped when Angel stated, "You never answered my question."

"Am I happy? Do you have three hours?"

"Do I look busy?"

After a beat, starting at him up and down, Tina told him, "I get off at ten."

Flashing her a small smile, Angel said, "Great. I'll be waiting out back."

Just then, Angel felt a tingle on the back of his neck and heard a familiar voice gasp his name.

His eyes widened in shock. "Buffy," he whispered, whipping around to clarify his suspicions. In the process of turning around, he accidently knocked a full cup of coffee off of the table he was standing next to. Both Angel and Buffy quickly reacted and caught the cup at the same time before it hit the ground without spilling a drop.

Their hands were touching and feelings they tried to once abandon came rushing right back. They stared into each other's eyes in awe, not believing the odds that they would end up in the same city.

"Wow," Tina looked at the two staring at each other so intently in amazement, "Good reflexes." After a few moments of watching the couple caught up in each other and still holding the coffee cup between them, Tina shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "Are you guys going to give up the cup or do you two prefer old and cold coffee," she joked, attempting to break the great tension that suddenly filled the air.

Buffy was the first to snap out of the trance. She managed to get the coffee cup out of Angel's hand, which wasn't too hard considering how shocked he was, and gave Tina an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry," the smaller blonde apologized, and handed over the coffee to the waitress.

"No problem. These come out of my paycheck anyway, so thanks." She glanced over at Angel, who now seemed to be out of his shocked state, "So, um, ten minutes?"

Angel nodded without a word spoken. After Tina left, the estranged couple made eye contact once again.

"Buffy...," Angel started to say, but was cut off when Buffy threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Thank God you're okay," he heard Buffy whisper. He laid one hand on her lower back and the other stroked her long blonde hair.

"Shh... It's okay, I'm okay," soothed Angel, not sure what she was talking about, but comforted her anyway. Taking a look around, he noticed that they had suddenly attracted attention to themselves. Gently, Angel pried Buffy off of him so he could look into her teary green eyes. "Let's go outside," he suggested, to which she nodded. He took her smaller hand in his and lead her out back to his car.

Once they reached his black Plymouth, Angel turned to face his blonde love, only to be met with her fist. After stumbling back a step, Angel looked at Buffy bewildered, with a hand against his aching cheek.

"That was for leaving without saying goodbye," she spat. "God Angel! I didn't even know if you survived the Ascension," she yelled at him, she didn't know whether to burst into tears of joy that he was alive and well, or be incredibly pissed that he just left without a word. Her tone softened when she said, "Do you even know how worried I was about you?"

"I'm sorry, I really am. I just... I thought it would've been better that way," Angel apologized, dropping his brown eyes to the ground. He felt guilty for making Buffy worried about him, which just added to the immense amount of guilt he felt already.

"How Angel? How could you possibly think that would be a better way?"

Angel raised his gaze to look directly back into Buffy's eyes, "Because I knew if I said goodbye or if I even saw you once before I left, I wouldn't have been able to go through with it."

Buffy tore her eyes away from his, wanting to ask if he felt that way then why did he leave anyway, but she didn't want to start up the normal life conversation again. Silence enveloped the two as they stared anywhere but at each other, until Buffy remembered what the blonde waitress inside had said to Angel a few minutes ago.

"D-did you have a date or something," Buffy frowned, jealousy boiling at the pit of her stomach and her heart felt a pang at the thought.

Angel sensed the sadness in her voice and shook his head, "No, it's just that... This guy, er, um, half-demon, Doyle, came to me and talked about the higher powers and such. He said he gets visions and was sent to help me. He told me I was supposed to help, help people, including that girl Tina."

"Help with what," she repeated Angel's earlier question.

"I don't know, I'm supposed to find that out."

After a moment of awkward silence, Buffy asked, "Is it one of those things where you have to do it alone?"

Before Angel could answer, he saw Tina making her way over to them. She had changed from her work uniform to a black, sleeveless evening dress, and her long blonde hair was swept off her neck in a stylish updo.

"Wow," Angel changed his tone of voice and focused his attention to Tina, "I suddenly feel underdressed. Did you want to have a drink or something." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sadness wash over Buffy's face, and he slyly shot her an apologetic look.

Surprising both Angel and Buffy, Tina pulled out a bottle of mace from her purse and held it up to aim at Angel's face.

"I know who you are and what you're doing here. Stay the hell away from me. And you tell Russell to leave me alone," she said with much venom in her voice.

"I don't know anyone named Russell," Angel calmly defended himself. Buffy's eyes darted between the two, wisely deciding to stay out of the exchange, but ready to pounce if the need should arise.

"You're lying," Tina accused.

"No I'm not."

"Then why were you watching me?"

"Because you looked lonely," he admitted, "And I figured that we have something in common." His eyes contacted with Buffy's after his confession. Her green orbs filled back up with unshed tears again, knowing the underlying message was to her. He missed her and the feeling was mutual.

Tina, for the first time, noticed the blonde from the coffee shop standing next to the large man and the look towards Angel became even harsher.

"So you decided to make this a party? You're sick," she accused.

Buffy angrily glared at Tina, figuring now was the time to butt in, "Excuse me!"

"Buffy...," Angel softly warned her to stop so she wouldn't scare off the person he was meant to help . When he saw Buffy clamp her mouth shut and back off, he turned back towards Tina, who still hadn't given up on the mace.

"Buffy's... an old friend. Her car broke down, so I offered to give her a ride home. That's it, nothing more," Angel told Nina, at the same time discreetly telling Buffy that he wanted her help.

Tina's hard expression melted and she lowered her mace, "Oh. I'm sorry. I'm really..." she apologized.

"That's okay," Angel assured her and Buffy nodded in agreement.

"No it's not. I'm sort of having relationship issues."

"Who's Russell," Angel questioned, immediately changing the subject back to the man Tina accused him of knowing. He had a feeling that he was the problem he was supposed to help Tina with.

Tina shook her head in refusal to talk about the man, and tried to walk past him, but the stubborn Angel refused to give up.

"I'd like to help."

"The only help I need is a ticket home... And that wasn't me asking for money."

"Where's home," Buffy finally spoke up. All three of them leaned on Angel's car.

Tina finally smiled at the thought of her home, "Missoula, Montana." She saw Angel's smirk, "You've been to Missoula?"

"During the Depression," Buffy cleared her throat and tried to choke down laughter at Angel's slip up and then at the way he tried to fix it. Never had she seen Angel so nervous and uncomfortable. "Uh, my depression. I-I was depressed there... It's pretty country though."

"Lots of open land, lots of nothing else... I came here to become a movie star. But they weren't hiring," Tina said thoughtfully, "Well I have a fabulous Hollywood party to go to. Hence the glamour. The girl giving it owes my security deposit. Well it was nice threatening you."

Angel looked towards Buffy who was motioning towards the car and then to Tina, and before Tina could walk away, Angel asked, "You need a lift?"

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Angel drove his black convertible up to a fancy apartment complex. And after a silent, awkward ride up the elevator, the three finally made it up to the fabulous Hollywood party, where they were met with a red headed woman with a camera.

"Tina," the woman exclaimed, "Smile for the camera," she noticed Angel and practically swooned, "And who is this hunk of tall, dark and handsome?" Buffy stepped out from behind Angel, and possessively put her hand on Angel's muscled arm unconsciously, causing Margo to raise her eyebrow, "And this young blonde thing. I didn't know you had a sister, Tina." Margo and Buffy exchanged bitter smiles, Buffy deciding then that this lady would not be her favorite person.

Tina shook her head is response, "They're just friends, Margo. I really need to talk to you."

"Oh, grab yourself a drink. I'll be right there." Margo wandered off into the crowd, and Angel and Buffy followed Tina to the refreshment table.

Tina picked up a small star-shaped sandwich and chuckled, yet the sadness never leaving her face, "Cute. Everyone's a star." She put it back down on the platter and traded it for a much needed glass of wine to calm her nerves.

Ever the relentless one, Angel asked again, "Who's Russell?"

"He is someone I made the mistake of trusting," she sadly replied.

At that moment, Margo popped up behind Angel, and was a little too close to him for Buffy's liking.

"Here I am," she cheerfully announced.

Tina sat down her glass of wine and informed Buffy and Angel, "This won't take long."

"I would not leave that one unattended," Buffy heard Margo say, and she fixed a glare to the red head's back as Tina and her walked away.

"I don't like her," Buffy stated as she and Angel wandered around the party, looking a bit lost; one more than the other.

"Tina," Angel questioned.

"Oh no. Margo, She's giving off the bitch vibe towards me, but she seems to be totally into you."

As soon as Buffy finished her sentence, a short man with thin glasses and a graying goatee approached them.

"You are a gorgeous girl," he said to Buffy, causing Angel to now be the possessive one and placed his hand on her back. The man's attention on Buffy seemed to be short-lived, because he turned to Angel, and became more intent upon him. "And you are a beautiful, beautiful man."

Angel, unsure of how to react, said, "Thanks," slightly rattled.

"You two are actors."

"No," Buffy and Angel disproved.

"That wasn't a question. I'm Oliver. Ask anyone about Oliver. I'm a fierce animal," he pulled out two business cards out of his wallet and handed them over, but was solely concentrated on Angel, much to his disturbance and Buffy's amusement. "I'm your manager as soon as you call me."

"We're not actors," Buffy clarified, she and Angel both trying to give back the cards.

"Funny. I like the humor. I like the whole thing," Oliver looked Angel up and down, "Call me. This isn't a come-on. I'm in a very serious relationship with a landscape architect." With that, he breezily walked off and they frowned at the business cards.

"I stand corrected... HE's totally into you," Buffy half-joked.

Angel just stared at Buffy. They really needed to talk. Questions came to mind, like why was she here? Who's watching the Hellmouth? Was she here alone?... Did she still love him?

He opened his mouth to voice his thoughts, but was interrupted when they heard a familiar voice, talking about call backs and being an actress.

"Oh my God," Buffy gasped when the owner of the prideful voice came to view.

"Cordelia," Angel asked out loud.

The long haired brunette turned away from the two businessmen she was talking to.

"Oh my God! Angel? Buffy?"

"Nice to see another familiar face," Angel commented and grinned when Cordelia came up to them.

"I didn't know you two were in LA. I thought he left you," Cordelia said in her usual tactless way. Angel looked away guiltily while Buffy was a cross between being hurt and about to bring hurt to Cordelia. "Wait, you two aren't back together are you?"

"No Cordelia, we're not," Buffy assured her slowly, "I'm going to school here now with Willow, Oz, and Xander and I just happened to bump into him."

"Oh. So the gang's all here, huh?"

"Yup."

"Geez, just when I tried to get away from Sunnydale, it comes to me. You can never get away from it can you?"

"No, I guess not."

"So, are you living here," Angel politely questioned.

"Malibu. A small condo on the beach. It's not a private beach, but I'm young so I forebear," Cordelia told them, which had Buffy wondering if she was telling the truth or not. Last she heard, Cordelia's family had next to nothing.

"You're acting," he asked, remembering the part of the conservation they heard Cordy having with the businessmen.

"Can you believe it? I mean I just started it to make some quick cash, and then boom, it was like my life!... So are you still," she made an attempt to imitate a vampire face and held up her hands like claws, "grrr?"

Buffy rolled her eyes while Angel gazed at her strangely. "Yeah, there's not actually-a cure for that."

"Right. But are you sure you two didn't do it and he back all evil. I mean, you're not here to bite people."

Buffy clenched and unclenched her fists. Three years with Cordelia Chase had taught Buffy how to maintain self-control when it came to the urge to release her anger on Cordelia whenever she opened he mouth. At the moment though, that self-control was slowly diminishing.

"No," Buffy ground out, "We just gave a friend a ride."

"Oh, good. Well, I better get mingly. I really should be talking to people that ARE somebody." Cordelia turned and sauntered away, leaving Angel and Buffy to stare after her.

"It's nice to know she's grown as a person," Angel sarcastically commented to Buffy.

"You're telling me," she returned.

For a minute or two, the two walked around, observing the people of Hollywood. There were many actors and actresses mingling around as Cordy did, trying to get in good with powerful people with connections. They even saw some scantily clad women making out with men way past their prime, undoubtedly gold diggers. Amongst the "high-class" LA party goers, Buffy and Angel spotted a black haired man in a fancy suit tightly hold on to Tina's arm as she tried to get away.

"Russell just wants to see you," the man said.

"Leave me alone," Tina growled in return and yanked her arm from his grip. She walked away, and tried to rub the pain from her arm. She saw Buffy and Angel and plastered a fake smile on her face as she approached them.

"Of course she doesn't have the money yet."

"Who's that," Buffy immediately asked.

"Stacy? He's just a creep. Can we please go?"

"Yeah," Angel nodded, and the three left the crowded apartment behind them.

TBC...


	3. City of pt3

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. I got the transcripts from Link to previous parts: http: This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

E-MAIL: A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

Part 3

When they exited the elevator to the parking garage, three guys attacked them. One guy grabbed Tina and the other two tackled Angel and Buffy back into the elevator, the doors closing before they could throw the thugs off of them. The doors to the next elevator opened and there stood Stacy.

"Hey, hey. Okay, he just wants to see you, that's all," Stacy tried to soothe the struggling Tina.

Finally, she quit and calmed herself, "Okay, no problem." She managed to get out of the other man's grip and pretended to cooperate. They walked through the doors of the parking garage, and before they knew it, Tina tried to escape by running away. She didn't get far though, the two men grabbed her and forced her into a gray Mercedes Sedan.

As soon as they started to speed off, the elevator doors opened once again and both Buffy and Angel walked out, leaving two unconscious men behind.

They ran into the parking garage and saw the Sedan drive away. Angel quickly and heroically jumped into his black convertible, but was dismayed when the keys wouldn't fit. He looked around and noticed Buffy in an identical convertible four spaces down.

"Angel! What are you doing! Come on," Buffy yelled.

"Damn it," he cursed and got out of the car, running full speed to the right one.

Buffy gripped the side of the car as Angel floored it to catch up with the Sedan that held Tina captive.

"Hold on," Angel ordered her, and if possible, pressed on the gas harder. When the slayer realized that Angel was about to ram into a head on collision with the Sedan, she did as she was told. At the last possible minute, the driver of the classic car chickened out when Angel didn't and swerved into a parked car.

Angel and Buffy got out of the convertible and marched up to the other car. When the driver tried to attack, Buffy kicked the car door to slam into him, allowing Angel to grab his pistol and aim it at Stacy, who got out the back.

Holding his hands up, Stacy warned, "Whoever you two are, you don't want to get involved here."

"Tina get in the car," Buffy said to the scared blonde, who willingly obeyed.

Stacy put up a brave front and challenged the dangerous man in front of him. "You know what? I don't think you're going to pull that trigger."

Surprising him, Angel hit him with a hard left. "Good call," he quipped. He dropped the gun, and with Buffy at his side, got in the car, Buffy hopping in the back.

"Nice party, huh," Tina sarcastically commented.

"A little too fabulous for me," Buffy returned. Angel started up the car and they drove off, leaving their attackers behind to lick their wounds.

* * *

After another quiet and awkward ride, Angel drove the girls to his basement apartment.

Angel was in the kitchen making tea while Tina was rummaging in her bag in the next room, and Buffy was sitting on the edge of Angel's bed, calling up a most likely worried Willow.

"My Girl Scout training," Tina randomly informed Angel, "I can live out of this bag for days if I had to."

"I've made some tea," he called from the kitchen. He placed two cups on the table and poured the hot water in them before putting in tea bags.

"Thanks."

"Do you take milk and sugar," he automatically asked.

"Yeah."

"Because I don't have those things," he finally remembered. Blood, only blood. "I don't get a lot of visitors."

Tina saw the weapons hung on the wall and smirked his way. "At least not ones you like."

Angel emerged from the kitchen, holding the two cups. He handed one to Tina and kept the one he made for Buffy in his hand. "I have relationship issues, too," he attempted to joke, but it came out a bit sad when he saw his slayer in the bedroom chatting happily on the phone, looking beautiful as always.

Tina looked her way, too. "Oh, you mean you and..." Her name was at the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't quite get it.

"Buffy," Angel helped her.

"Thank you. You and Buffy used to be... together? Well, obviously, the way you two look at each other."

"Yeah, but we broke up a few months ago. It wasn't... we're here to help you, not us."

Tina gave one last glance towards Buffy who was still on the phone. "I guess this is the part where you comfort me? Not like you didn't earn it."

Angel realized immediately what she was offering and thanked the powers that Buffy was in the next room, out of hearing range. Even though they weren't together anymore, he knew Buffy had a bit of a jealous streak like he did. At least he hoped she did.

"No," he put down Buffy's cooling tea on a nearby table, "this is the part where you have a safe place to stay while we figure things out."

"You mean you don't want-"

"You have enough people taking advantage right now."

At his words, Tina teared up and tried to hold in a sob with a hand over her mouth and turned away from him. "Boy are you in the wrong town."

She sat down on the small makeshift bed. Angel went to grab a dishtowel to help dry her tears, but was beat to it by a smaller hand. He looked up and met Buffy's hazel eyes. She didn't seem angry or upset, so he was a little relieved that she didn't hear the earlier exchange between him and Tina. Although, he couldn't really decipher that, because she didn't look compassionate either, her emotions were unreadable.

Buffy walked over to a crying Tina and handed her the dishtowel. She took it and looked at Buffy gratefully. After Tina took the towel to dab her wet eyes, Buffy and Angel sat on either side of her.

Deep down, Buffy felt the nagging of the green eyed monster wanting to use her slaying abilities on the other blonde, but she knew that Tina was just a vulnerable country girl trying to survive the big bad city of Los Angeles.

"Russell have a last name," Angel gently interrogated.

"Yeah," Tina sniffled, "but you don't need to know it. You've done enough already. Both of you. He's the kind of guy that can get away with murder."

"Who did he murder," Buffy asked.

"I don't know. Maybe nobody... He likes- He likes pain. I mean he really does. He talks about it like it was a friend. And you don't leave him, he tells you when he's had enough. I knew this girl, Denise, she tried to get away. She disappeared off the face of the earth," a sob escaped her lips and she choked on her words, "He finds you."

"Not anymore," Angel determinedly declared.

* * *

Angel pulled a blanket over Tina when she finally fell asleep. While Angel did that, Buffy, a little guiltily, went into Tina's purse and pulled out her address book. When she met Angel's warm brown eyes, she nodded toward the kitchen and he obediently followed her.

"Here," Buffy said in a hushed tone and handed over the small red book, "I'm sure you can find Denise in there."

"Thanks." They both lost eye contact as silence washed over them, both trying to figure out what to say next. Their emotional wounds were still fresh.

"Well, I guess I better go."

"Yeah. Um. Do you have a number where I can contact you, to you know, keep in touch?"

She nodded, "Sure." She quickly scanned the area and saw a desk in the other room. Angel followed her to the place where he sat for hours drawing portrait after portrait of just her. He just hoped she didn't look through the bottom drawer where he kept those drawings. Luckily, he had left a pencil and a sheet of paper on top of the desk, which she used to scrawled down a phone number.

Buffy turned around and for a few moments she was caught up in his captivating gaze.

"That's my cell phone number. We don't have a number for our apartment yet." When she handed it to him, their fingers brushed and that familiar shock went through both of them.

Buffy yanked her hand back, much to Angel's disappointment.

"It was great seeing you. Really."

"You too. I'll call you if anything happens." Buffy nodded and with that, and half heartedly hurried up the stairs with Angel watching her exit, their hearts and souls aching.

TBC...

Lynn


	4. City of pt4

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. I got the transcripts from Link to previous parts: http: This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

E-MAIL: A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

Part 4

Walking through the hallway between her and Willow's apartment and the guys' apartment, Buffy felt the vibration of her phone going off in her pocket. She had just came back from telling the guys about Angel. Of course, Xander was vehement about the vampire being back in their lives, but eventually cooled off due to some forceful tactics used by Buffy and Willow.

"Hello?"

"Buffy," came Angel's deep voice.

"Angel. What's-"

"That girl, Denise Perkins. I did some research last night. I think she was really murdered."

"Oh my God. Did you tell Tina?"

There was an elongated pause before Angel confessed, "Tina's dead."

"What? How?"

"She ran when we had a little disagreement, and I found her at her apartment... with bite marks."

"Oh no." Buffy leaned back against her apartment door. "Do you think it was Russell?"

"You read my mind. Doyle found out where that guy Stacy is at. I think we can get some information out of him. Can you meet me at Stacy's Gym Supplies?"

"Yeah sure. Just tell me where it is."

* * *

Not long after, Buffy met up with Angel and Doyle in front of the building. Doyle didn't seem to be surprised that the slayer was there, he had a vision before Tina, giving him a heads up on the Scoobies arrival. Of course he didn't tell Angel that, he had to find that out on his own.

Through the big window, they saw Stacy talking to another man. Angel grabbed a nearby trash can and hurled it, effectively shattering the glass.

With not much difficulty, Angel had Stacy pinned with a weight bar (A/N: I have no idea what those are called).

"Where does he live, how much security does have," Angel growled out.

"Listen Hot Shot. Whatever she was to you, you better forget it. You have no idea who you're dealing with here."

Buffy stepped up next to them with her arms crossed, "Russell? Let me guess. Not big on the daylight and the mirrors? Drinks a lot of V-8."

Stacy was stunned that these two weren't intimidated one bit and weren't backing down.

"You get in his way, he'll kill you. He'll kill everyone you care about."

Angel stole a glance toward Buffy. "There is nobody left I care about who doesn't know how to take care of themselves."

They finally managed to get the information they needed not long after. They traveled back to Angel's apartment, and Doyle watched as the two warriors filled a black bag with weapons.

"Wow, you two are really going to war here," Doyle observed, and then said to Angel, "I guess you, ah, you've seen a few in you time, yeah?"

"Fourteen, not including Vietnam. They never declared it."

"Well, listen, best of luck to you man," he gave a friendly slap to Angel's back and nodded at Buffy, "I've got some fairly large coin riding on the Vikings tonight, but I'll be there with you in spirit, yeah?"

Without missing a beat, Buffy returned, "You're driving."

"Now wait a minute. Nah-no-no, I'm not combat ready. I'm just the messenger!"

Angel threw Doyle the bag and signaled Buffy that they were ready to go. "And we're the message," she said while following the determined vampire out the apartment with Doyle unwillingly behind them.

* * *

When they reached the gates of Russell's mansion, Angel tossed Doyle his keys and got out of the car wearing one of Doyle's jackets and weirdly printed shirts to talk to the guard.

"How are you doing," Angel cheerfully greeted, "I think we're lost. We are looking for a Roscamere. What are you watching? Is that the game," he leaned into the guard booth to discreetly get a better view of where the security cameras were positioned, "The Vikings on?"

Unexpectedly, Angel landed a hard right across the guard's face. Smoothly, he pulled the cable from the security camera pointing at the gate. He took off the clothes that he borrowed from Doyle and threw them in the back of the car, leaving him in his all black attire. Buffy was right by his side within seconds, holding the bag of weapons.

"Tie him up. We're out in ten minutes or we're not coming out," Angel told Doyle and then said Buffy, "Let's go."

When the two reached the side of the house, Buffy reached into the bag and handed an explosive device to Angel, which made her wonder where he got the heavy artillery from. He attached it to the fuse box in front of him and set it on thirty seconds. As soon as he hit the button, he nodded to Buffy, silently telling her they were moving on to the next part of their plan.

Buffy quickly scanned the area, and found a balcony they could enter from. The dark vampire threw the grappling hook he brought along up onto the balcony. When they both made the jump over the railing and smoothly and swiftly entered the house, Buffy couldn't help but get the theme from Mission Impossible stuck in her head.

Right on time, the timer on the explosive device went off and blew up the fuse box, causing the whole mansion to become enveloped in darkness.

The two warriors hid in the shadows, and found Russell with his new victim, who was none other than Miss Cordelia Chase. Though they wouldn't let her get in their way. She was but a minor obstacle to get to their target.

"Russell Winters," Angel growled in his deep menacing voice, both him and his former lover still cloaked in darkness.

Coming off as scared and hopeful that she was about to be saved, Cordelia looked in their direction. "Angel?"

Using that as their cue, Buffy and Angel emerged from the shadows.

"We have a message for you," Buffy said smoothly, "from Tina."

The vampire that appeared to be in his mid-forties and had a game face that made the Master look like GQ material, looked from the other vampire to the slayer.

"You made a very big mistake coming here."

Cordelia's confidence kicked in ten fold and she looked at Russell. "You don't know who they are do you," Smugness washed over her face, "Oh boy! You are about to get your ass kicked!"

Buffy pulled out a stake and she and Angel simultaneously attacked Russell. Although the odds were two against one, Russell proved to be quite the challenge. After some few exchanged hits, Russell managed to throw Buffy across the hall and Angel to the ground.

Angel looked up and saw bodyguards with drawn guns charging up the stairs. He waited until they were all on the runner he was lying on and pulled it from under all three of his opponents as he got up.

"Kill them," Russell barked out in rage.

With slayer speed, Buffy quickly made her to Angel. When a shot rang out, Angel instinctively jumped in front of Buffy and took a bullet to the chest. Not letting it bring him down, he turned and promptly scooped up Cordelia and tried his best to use himself as a shield to cover her and Buffy from the oncoming bullets. While more bullets hit him on the back, he jumped over the banister with the girls in his arms, to the floor below.

"Angel! Ah," Buffy and Cordelia screamed.

As soon as they hit the ground, they took off running and escaped through the front door. The girls helped a hunched over Angel to the gates, and found Doyle by the car, which was steaming and dented.

"You know I've had a bit of an accident," Doyle was about to explain, but heard the gunshots in the background, "but we'll talk later..."

Cordelia got in the passenger seat while Buffy jumped in the back, with cradled Angel in her arms.

TBC...

Lynn


	5. City of pt5

Thanks to all who read this story! I don't think I'm very good at re-writes, so it means a lot that ppl actually like my stories. Hope you like this part.

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. I got the transcripts from Link to previous parts: http: This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

E-MAIL: A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

Part 5

"Got it," Buffy announced and held up the last bullet she pulled from Angel's chest with tweezers and put it in a pan with the others.

"Finally! I thought I was going to faint while barfing," Cordelia cried out and handed Buffy a piece of gauze. "Okay. So, it's over, right? We're going to be okay. You put the fear of God into that Russell guy. He's not going to come looking for me, right?"

As a response, they all just looked at each other.

* * *

Later on the next day, Angel sat on the edge of his bed in his dim bedroom, staring at his phone. The vampire entrepreneur known as Russell Winters was no longer a problem. He had went to his establishment alone, exchanged a few words, and kicked him out the window into the daylight. It was so simple, he berated himself for not thinking about it earlier.

After a few more moments of staring, he picked up the receiver and dialed the well remembered number.

He waited two rings before the person on the other end picked up.

"Hello? Hello," Buffy's sweet voice said. Too afraid to say anything, Angel hung up the phone, mentally branding himself a chicken.

"You know that's rude."

Angel jumped in surprise, for the blonde that he had just called was standing in the door way, her silver flip phone in hand.

"That's like the fifteenth time you've done that," she walked slowly into the apartment and closer to him. Being the noble gentleman he was, he stood up and met her in the middle, keeping a safe amount of distance of course. "I'm wondering if you have something important to tell me...," she raised an eyebrow, "Do you?"

He glanced away for a second, "I uh... I got rid of Russell."

"Good... But that's not it."

"It's um. It's nothing."

"Fine. If you won't talk, I will." She pivoted and moved a few steps away from him before looking him in the eyes again. "When I thought you were dead, it felt as if a part of me died, too. Now that I know that you're alive and close... I don't want to go on without you."

Angel sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Buffy, you know I miss you, too, but the circumstances from before are still there."

"I know that, Angel. I had a long talk with Willow last night, and she helped me weigh the ups and downs of our situation. We can find ways around the downs. It won't be easy, but we can work through it... together."

Buffy was definitely determined, and from the look on Angel's face, she knew he was starting to break, already. She was the slayer, and she wouldn't go down without a fight.

"And the immortality, how are we going to find a way around that?"

Buffy frowned. "That wouldn't matter anyway. I'm the slayer, remember? We don't have very long life spans like everybody else."

"Don't say that Buffy."

"It doesn't matter if I say it or not. Slayers are meant to die young."

"No," He stalked closer to her and gripped her shoulders, "Not you. You're going to live a long, fulfilling, happy life."

"And the only way I'll be happy is if I'm with you," she rose a hand to cup his cheek, "Can you honestly tell me you don't feel the same as me when we're apart? Loneliness? Heartache?"

For long moments there was nothing but silence, and eye gazing.

"You're not going to give up are you?"

Buffy smiled, "It's part of my charm." She then bit her lip, hoping that action would affect Angel like it used to. "So did I win, or do I have to resort to physical violence," she joked.

His only response to that question was to gently grab the back of her neck and pull her into a searing kiss. They abruptly pulled apart, though, and rushed up the stairs when they heard a piercing scream.

They bursted into the office, and Angel carefully avoided the sun streaming through the office. Expecting to find danger, they only found Cordelia with a duster in her hands surrounded by Doyle, Xander, Willow, and Oz.

"Angel," Willow exclaimed happily when she saw the duo that just entered, and trotted over to throw her arms around him. When his girlfriend let go, Oz exchanged his usual stoic pleasantries with Angel.

"What's with the screaming," Buffy questioned.

"Oh it was nothing. Cordelia was just afraid of the big bad cockroach. All is well now," Xander filled in, and earned a glare from Queen C. "Angel," he nodded in greeting, trying to be as friendly as he could be toward the ensouled vampire that captured his Buffster's heart.

"Xander," Angel returned.

"Okay," Cordelia interjected, "first thing. We need to call an exterminator-and a sign painter. We should have a name on the door!"

Angel gazed at Cordelia. "Okay. I'm confused."

"Doyle filled me in on your little mission," Angel gave Doyle a look and he just stared back guiltily/nervously, "So I was just saying, if we're going to help people, maybe a small charge. You know, something to help pay the rent, and my salary. You need somebody to organize things, and you're not exactly rolling in it Mr. I-Was-Alive-for-200-Years-and-I-Never-Developed-an-Investment-Portfolio."

"You want to charge people," Willow tried to clarify.

"Well not everybody. But sooner or later we are going to have to help some rich people, right? Right?"

"Possibly. Yeah.," Doyle helped out the brunette beauty.

"Hand me that box," Cordelia pointed to the box behind Angel, who looked at Buffy and the others for help. "So I think we should charge based on a case-by-case analysis, but with me working for a flat fee," She paused and went from determined to having a sad, pleading look that she perfected since coming to LA, "I mean, um... that is, if you think you can use me?"

Angel, once again, looked around the room, to find that everybody was staring at him expectantly. After a moment, he reached a decision and got the box Cordelia asked for and handed it to her with a smile, everybody was smiling with him.

"Of course this is just temporary-until my inevitable stardom takes affect." She walked into the other room, and those who knew her well rolled their eyes. Of course she had to ruin the moment with her infamous pride.

"A detective agency. This could be fun," Willow commented and proceeded to help Cordelia tidy up, Oz and Xander at her heels.

"You've made a good choice," Doyle said, "She'll provide a connection to the world. She's got a very... humanizing influence."

Angel and Buffy exchanged smirks after Angel wrapped his arms around his renewed girlfriend.

"You think she's a hottie," Buffy teased Doyle.

"Oh yeah, she's a stiffner alright, I can't lie about that. But, you know, she could use a hand."

"True," Angel replied, staring off into space.

"You know there's a lot of people in this city that need helping."

"Hmm. So I notice."

"You game?"

Angel paused before grinning at Doyle, "I'm game."

"And you Buffy," Doyle quirked an eyebrow at the slayer.

She stared at her friends, the Scooby gang, laughing and working together, and smiled.

"Yeah... we're in."

End...

Next up... "Lonely Hearts"

Lynn


	6. Lonely Hearts pt1

About time right? Haha well, I'm late as always, but at least I posted this. I hope you like. Enjoy! Oh, and the feedback was great, I hope it would be just as great this time.

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

"Lonely Hearts"

Part 1

The office building of Angel Investigations was darkened, only the night lights of the city gave it a very dim glow. It was devoid of any movement or life. Well, except for the couple making out in the main office.

It had been over a week since Buffy and Angel got back together, but the day after the reunion, Angel feared that it was over before it began, all because of one little secret he kept from her. That night he had confessed to her that when the shaman friend of Giles' performed the spell that made the mayor believe that he freed Angelus, he had actually gotten rid of the pesky gypsy curse and bound his soul.

Buffy had reacted just the way that Angel thought she would, which was not very well. In fact, she needed a day of separation to cool off and process after the elaborate drama-fest that followed Angel's confession. There was yelling, tears, object throwing, anything that you can think of that was typical for the star-crossed couple. There was even an angry phone call made to Giles who actually knew of this piece of information that was withheld from Buffy.

After major brooding and avoided phone calls, all was well the next night when they calmly talked things over. Even though the couple had many opportunities to "seize the moment" over the past several days, they still hadn't taken up the chance. They wanted to take things a little slow considering they were both still afraid that there would be a chance that Angelus would come out to play again.

That didn't keep them from acting upon their lusty tendencies, though.

"Angel," Buffy murmured, and ran a hand through his soft, spiky hair to catch his attention.

"Hmm," he replied into her neck. Not wanting the pleasure to end, but still wanting his full attention, she half-heartedly pulled his head away from her neck. Even in the darkness, they both saw the lust and passion glazed over their eyes.

"Let's-," Buffy began, but was cut off when the lights flickered on. Having been sitting in the dark for awhile, they had to blink a few times to adjust to the lights.

They turned their heads and found Doyle had entered the office.

"Hey, you know, maybe we should go over this thing again of you getting out in the world and involving yourself with people... other than your girl that is." Buffy glared at Doyle, to which he just ignored. "It's Friday night. It's the most social night of the week! You and your girl should be out there enjoying the nightlife. Not making out in the dark like some kind of..."

"Some kind of couple," Buffy finished for him.

"Well, yeah. I was going to say 'horny teenagers', but yeah, to you, Miss Obvious," and then he said to Angel, "You got to come out, man!"

"Why," Angel questioned with a bit of agitation in his voice.

"Because we deserve a night of fun, don't you think?" At Buffy and Angel's looks, Doyle rolled his eyes. "I mean, it breaks up those nights of death and mayhem. Plus, we could toast the new business, you know, all of us," he hinted. He whistled and tilted his head towards the outer office where Cordelia's desk sat.

Buffy had the courtesy to smile, thinking Doyle's little crush on Cordy was cute. Angel, on the other hand, was frustrated that Doyle had ruined the moment, and he knew they wouldn't get it back anytime soon because the rest of the gang should be along any minute. He slid Buffy off his lap so she could take over the leather chair he was sitting on, and stood up.

"Yeah, Doyle, if you want to ask Cordelia out, just do it yourself," Angel said.

"I don't know if she likes me, man," he started to protest, but then turned to Buffy, "unless you put in a good word for me. You know, just tell her what a great guy I am!"

Buffy chuckled, "I barely know you."

"Perfect. That should make it easier for you then."

The subject of their conversation walked into the outer office, followed by Willow and Xander.

"Hello," Cordelia called out.

"You know, I am...," he began, but had a thought and whispered to Buffy, "When you're talking me up to her, don't let her in on that me being half demon. Because, you know, women can be a little funny about that." Buffy rolled her eyes and hit him on the chest playfully.

Xander and Willow walked into Angel's office.

"Hey guys," Buffy greeted her best friends, "Where's Oz?"

"In his cage," Willow answered. "It's that time of the month, remember?" After a thorough search, Oz found an underground cave that was perfect to construct a sturdy cage whenever the full moon came around.

While Buffy nodded, Doyle looked at everyone in confusion.

"Wait, isn't Oz a guy? I mean, I know women get a little crazy whenever that time of the month comes around, but why would you lock someone up in a cage."

"Oz is a guy you idiot," Cordelia cut in when she entered the room, "He's just a werewolf. But enough about him. They're finally in," she beamed, holding a small white box.

"They're in," Doyle repeated to Buffy, quickly getting over Oz to stand next to Cordelia.

"Okay...," Angel responded, a little lost.

"Your cards," Cordy told him and took one out of the box to show him.

"The cards," Doyle echoed for the second time.

"Your calling cards to leave with people so they know how to reach you."

"Great idea," Doyle exclaimed with much enthusiasm, "Calling cards."

"Hey, it's not like you have a signal folks can shine in the sky whenever they need help, you know," Xander added while examining a card.

Angel and Buffy accepted the cards handed to them.

"Hey, look at that, there's our number," Angel attempted to humor Cordelia with faux enthusiasm, "It's right next to a ... a um-a..." He looked to Buffy for help, hoping she knew what the group of squiggly lines were.

"A-a um... butterfly," she supplied.

Doyle saw the look on Cordelia's face and looked back at the card he was holding. "It's obviously not a butterfly. It's a-a bird." Cordelia rolled her eyes in response.

"No, no, wait," Willow joined in, "it's an owl."

"A-a bird that hunts at night. Brilliant! It's a-a..."

"It's an angel," Cordelia yelled, fed up with the guesses.

"An angel. Right. It's an angel," Angel said as if he knew what it was all along.

"Brilliant," Doyle exclaimed, "So obvious and so clever on so many levels..."

"Oh shut up," Cordelia hit him on the chest with the back of her hand.

Doyle doubled over in pain and gripped the desk for support. "Oh, geez..."

Cordelia was taken back by Doyle's reaction. "Come on, don't be such a baby. I barely hit you."

Doyle just moaned and kicked the desk. Then suddenly, it was as if an invisible, powerful force shoved him back, causing him to release the cards into the air.

Angel rushed to Doyle and grabbed the lapels of his leather jacket so he wouldn't further hurt himself. The others gathered around with enough space to give the seer some air and watched with concern and panic.

"He, hey, hey, Doyle," Angel tried to call him back to them. When Doyle's convulsions of pain subsided, Angel asked, "You okay, man?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he answered, still reeling from the vision.

"Sit up. What'd you see? What'd you see," Angel questioned gently.

"It's a bar. Uh, I think I recognize it. It's one of those terminally-stuck-in-the-eighties places."

"Yeah, and," Buffy pried, trying to get something more specific when he didn't continue further.

"That's it. No faces popped out at me, man. Just, just a feelin'."

"What feeling," Cordy inquired.

"Something's gonna happen."

After a beat of silence, Angel commented, "Looks like you got your wish. We're going out after all, huh?"

* * *

Walking down the stairs into the dance club, D'Oblique, the group of five were suddenly assaulted with the loud techno music.

"Ooh, classy," Cordelia observed the busy nightclub and then turned to the others, "Okay, now what?" Doyle, Willow, and Xander just shrugged.

"All right," Angel said, "Uh, we'll split up. Look for someone that might be in trouble."

"Or for something that's about to cause it," Buffy added.

"Aaand break," Xander joked, pretending they were separating from a football huddle. He, Doyle, Willow walked away into the crowd and went their individual ways.

Before going off in a different direction than the others, Cordelia handed Angel and Buffy some calling cards.

When they were the last two left, Angel gave Buffy a quick kiss. "Stay close," he told her.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but humored him, "Yes, Daddy." She blew him a kiss and disappeared into the herd of dancing bodies.

Angel stared after her for a second and then stepped up to the bar, receiving a weird look from a woman who left her place at the bar that Angel took over.

"What can I get you," the young, black bartender mixing drinks asked Angel.

"Um, I'm just wondering, have you noticed anything unusual tonight?"

"Unusual?"

"Yeah, you know... out of the ordinary-possibly even... dangerous," Angel questioned awkwardly. He suddenly wondered if he was ever going to get used to this communication thing.

"Don't worry. It's early yet. The real hot women don't mosey in until eleven," the bartender interpreted his question. He went back to concentrate on the drinks he was mixing, leaving the vampire to stare at him baffled from the misunderstanding.

* * *

Xander did a little searching, and all he got accomplished was a few slaps to the face, several threats, and on a bright note, two phone numbers. He saw a familiar red head leave a man's side in disappointment and decided to have a little fun.

He snuck up behind her and disguised his voice to say into her ear, "Hey pretty lady. You wanna shake what your mama gave ya for me?"

Willow whirled around in shock and anger, only to find a smiling Xander. She swatted him on the shoulder and then asked, "Any luck?"

He only shrugged and replied, "Not so much. I still don't get how we're supposed to do this."

"I guess whatever method that doesn't end with us getting hauled to the looney bin."

"Or we can try Cordy's approach," he nodded towards his ex-girlfriend who was handing her newly acquired cards to random people. The two exchanged amused looks before walking over to the determined brunette, Doyle met them there as well.

Before Cordelia could hand out one more card, Doyle grabbed her and pulled her away.

"Hey, hey, hey! This isn't a marketing seminar here, Princess. You've got to stay a bit more below radar," he told her.

"What radar," she questioned.

"The police? You know the service our friend Angel provides... might put some people in mind of the V-word."

"Vampire?"

"No vigilante," Willow helped out, "You know there are laws against this. You need to chat people up a little more casual like."

"Yeah, you know," Xander joined in, "'Hi, what's your name? How's life treatin' ya? What's that you say? Minions from Hell gettin' you down?'"

Cordelia just stared at them as if they told her that Louis Vuitton was the same as Tommy Hilfiger. "Excuse me. I'm an actress," she declared, "a student of the human animal. I don't need to talk to people to know their story." She turned and pointed to a guy attempting to dance to demonstrate. "You see jazz hands over there? Mama's boy. Peter Pan complex." She pointed to a short haired blonde, "Self-absorbed closet-dud with a big 'the-world-owes-me' chip on her shoulder." Her last example was a shy looking blonde leaving with a dark haired man. "Check out Sarah-plain-and-tall. Has or comes from big money."

"How do you know all that," Willow asked her, one of her thin eyebrows raised.

"Well, you've got to be rich to snag the Calvin Klein model she's leaving with."

"Yeah, well, they're all riveting insights and such," Doyle said, "but we need to find someone that's in trouble?"

After a moments thought, Cordelia asked, "How's Angel doing?"

* * *

Angel still stood by the bar, and watched as the guy he was just talking to walked away shaking his head. Another misunderstanding to add to the long list.

"No seriously," Angel called after him, "I wasn't hitting on you!" He sighed and leaned against the bar.

Several seats down, Buffy forced a smile on her face when the man she liked to refer to as McGrabby-Hands, left her side because she declined his request to dance. She wasn't left empty handed though, she got a pretty colored drink out of the deal after having a rousing twenty minute conversation all about... him. With all the time she spent with him, Buffy found out that the only help that guy needed was an ego-deflation.

She swivelled her chair around, and searched for the only man she would give into. She spotted him in no time a few feet away from her.

Buffy had to laugh when she saw that Angel was having man troubles also. She was about to go over to him to help soothe his obvious stressful state when she saw another blonde woman start to talk to her vampire. What was with him and blondes anyway? So being the loyal and trusting girlfriend that she was... she moved a few seats closer to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Angel was about to search for Buffy when a feminine voice stopped him.

"Are you okay," she asked. The voice belonged to a blonde woman sitting next to him with a drink in front of her.

"What," he responded.

"Oh, no, nothing. Sorry." She looked away and went back to stirring her drink with her blue straw.

"No," he faced her, figuring that she would be a potential victim to save, "Am I okay?"

"Well you just looked- bad," At Angel's expression, she went to amend her comment, "Not that you look bad, you look very nice... I think I'm just going to have my drink."

From her seat, Buffy shook her head at the woman's rambling. She should be jealous, but she understood how Angel's presence could just turn you into a bumbling idiot; she'd been there before.

"Thanks," Angel replied, much to Buffy and the woman's surprise.

"For thinking you look bad, or thinking you look good?"

"You choose," he smirked, "I'm Angel."

"I'm-I'm Kate," she introduced herself.

After a pause of awkward silence, Kate asked, "So do you come her a lot?"

"First time. It's really..."

"Cheesy? Yeah. I prefer those cool bars that are hard to get into, but I can't get into them. Anyway, this is close to home." There was another pause. "So, did you-did you just stop in?"

"I'm sort of looking for some one."

"I'm sorry if I'm keeping you..."

"No, no, no, I'm just looking for someone to- rescue? Are you maybe in need of some- rescuing?" With his vampire hearing, he heard a familiar giggle from nearby. He was never going to hear the end of it.

Kate stared at him in disbelief. "Well that's the strangest line I'm going to hear at night."

"No, it's not a line. I'm..."

"Oh, I didn't mean... That was harsh."

"No, hey, you know... I'm not very good at this- talking." He wished that Buffy would stop gawking and laughing and just help him, but he knew from experience that he had to face his little phobia of people on his own.

"Well, I'm the expert. I'm sure you can see... Well the answer is no, I don't need rescuing. I gave up on the knight in shining armor concept a while ago. Anyway, I don't expect to find him here at the international house of posers."

"People can surprise you."

"I sound like a big hypocrite, don't I? Ragging on this place, I still come here almost every night. How else are you going to meet somebody outside of work? It's either this, or sit at home alone in the dark."

Angel's eyes ticked over to his beautiful girlfriend with a secret suggestive look in his eye. "Hmm. Wouldn't want that."

"So... what do you do?"

"Do?"

"For a living."

"I uh- well, basically I- um- I help... I'm a veterinarian." Again, he heard Buffy's muffled giggles.

"Really. Well, I always say a man that loves animals is a man you can trust." Angel clearly felt the glare of Buffy's hazel eyes. Oh he was REALLY going to pay for this later.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the other side of the club, the other four were leaning against the other bar.

"So you got everyone figured out, huh?" Doyle asked Cordelia.

"Not everyone. I mean you I don't get."

"Me?"

"Yeah, I mean, what's with those vision things of yours?"

"They're messages I get, you know from the higher powers, whoever they may be. You know, it's my gift!"

"If that was my gift, I'd return it," Willow and Xander tried to hide their laughter. They also knew of Doyle's little secret, and they found Cordelia's unknowingness funny. "I mean you get those headaches, and you do this bleh thing with your face."

Doyle downed a drink, causing his face to scrunch up. "What thing with my face?"

"Plus, your visions are kind of lame. A bar? That's wise and vague! I mean they should send you one of those self-destructing tapes, you know, that come with a dossier?"

"Well, I'll be sure to mention it..."

Just then, a blonde guy with an unfortunate shirt walked up to them.

"Hey, you're the one handing out these cards," he asked Cordy.

"Do you need help?"

"Well I was wondering if that's really your number. Do you mind if I ring you up some time for a date?"

Doyle was about to defend his crush, but Xander stepped up. "Yeah, she minds."

Cordy put a hand on his chest. "I can handle this okay," she calmly said to Xander, and then she turned to the guy, "Yes, I mind. This is a business card. We offer our services to people in need."

The blonde guy smiled smugly. "Well, I might be in need of a little service. You charge by the hour?"

"Excuse me?"

"Alright. Just everyone relax here a little bit," Doyle cut in, "The lady is with me, alright?"

"No I'm not," Cordelia snapped, glaring at the male seer.

"Hey, nobody's talking to you, wipe," The blonde yelled at Doyle.

* * *

Back at the other bar, Angel and Kate were still talking, and Buffy sighed in boredom. As much fun as it was to watch a desperate older than she woman hit on her man, she really didn't feel like listening to their less than riveting conversation anymore. The jealousy she usually felt whenever other beautiful women were around her Angel wasn't nagging her to death anymore; this Kate woman wasn't a threat.

Buffy scanned the club for her friends and spotted them at the side of the club. A blonde man stood in front of them, and by the looks of it, Cordelia and Xander didn't look too happy to be talking to him or his friend that had just joined them. Poor Doyle was unsuccessfully trying to be the referee in the argument, while Willow was just watching on, looking worried and unsure of what to do.

When their conversation seemed to get a little more heated up, Buffy slid off her stool, ready to march over there and intervene. She saw that Doyle had stepped in and looked as if he had everything under control, so she sat back down, figuring Doyle was cool enough to handle the situation. That thought was short-lived when the half demon head butted the offending blonde and he and Xander started throwing punches at the guy and his friend. Buffy jumped off her stool and quickly made her way over to the fight, trying to ignore the fact that she just heard Angel's new friend offer him sex.

Said vampire was right behind her, ready to help defend their friends. When they reached the fight, Angel was immediately hit in the face, which really didn't effect him much of course. Buffy left him to handle the guy that hit him, while she rushed to grab the chair the blonde man was getting ready to hit Doyle with.

The blonde man was obviously not afraid to hit women, for he threw a few punches at Buffy, but they were blocked by the chair she was still holding. After she managed to avoid the hits, she successfully threw him into the wall.

Xander and Doyle stepped back and watched from the sidelines, seeing that Buffy and Angel had things under control. She and Angel threw the barbaric men to the ground over each other and the bartender from earlier stepped in between them.

"Those two jerks started it," Cordelia exclaimed, reminding the Scooby gang of a five-year-old girl.

When the two men started to protest, the bartender cut them off. "Not a word. Not a word! Everytime with you guys. Out! Come on. Let's go!"

As the bartender ushered the two guys out, Buffy faced her friends, "Are you guys okay?"

Doyle was holding the side of his head, while Xander rubbed his sore jaw.

"Yeah, we're fine, thanks," Doyle answered for the both of them, Xander nodded in agreement.

She turned around and gazed at her boyfriend, "And how about you, Casanova?"

Angel winced, remembering that she heard the whole exchange between him and Kate. "Yeah... ah... I'm- I'm okay. Are you okay?"

"Well, now. That's for you to find out," she replied flirtatiously with a smirk and walked over to the bar.

Angel followed her after a beat. "No, I-I mean, I'd really like to know... You're not mad at me?"

She turned her green eyes to him. "What? Am I mad that some random woman offered you sex? Normally I would, furious even, but no, not this time."

He was about to ask why not, but decided to leave that be... for now. "Kate did not offer me sex."

Buffy let out an incredulous laugh. "She asked if you would wanted to go somewhere 'quieter' with her. In Dating Land, that's code for 'Let's go have sex.' You've been around awhile, you should know that."

Angel shook his head and moved closer to her, putting a hand on her hip. "And you're not mad at that?" Buffy allowed herself to be pulled into his arms. The couple was unaware of the disappointed blue eyes staring at them.

"Of course not," Angel gave her a disbelieving look, "Okay, maybe a little. I don't like her, but I'm not threatened by her. She just seems a little too needy and uptight, and I know you don't like that," she smiled up at him, "Plus you REALLY need to work on your pick-up lines," she giggled.

"Hey! They worked on you!"

Buffy smirked, "That's only because you gave me a present."

Angel just laughed in return. After a quick glance over his girlfriend's shoulder, he saw Kate leave the club and felt a little guilty for leaving her hanging like he did.

* * *

D'Oblique was now almost empty, there was only the bartenders and the group from Angel Investigations, who were sitting around a small table, with Doyle and Xander holding up ice from the bar up to their bruises. After questioning MANY people, they had accomplished nothing, except for some bruises and received phone numbers.

"You know," Angel spoke up, "I'm having a hard time believing that Doyle's vision meant I was supposed to come here to break up a bar fight."

"Yeah, well, if it was, I'm in for some serious workman's comp," Doyle replied.

"Alright think. Could any of you sense that anyone here tonight need help?"

"Yeah, everybody," Xander dead panned.

"This socializing thing is brutal. I mean, I was young once, I used to go to bars. It wasn't anything like this."

From her seat next to Angel, Buffy ran a hand through his soft hair and kissed his cheek in sympathy. "Baby, you used to go to taverns. Small towns, where everybody used to know each other."

"Yeah, like highschool," Cordelia put her two cents in, "It was easy to date there." She missed the incredulous looks from Willow, Xander, and Buffy, or just chose to ignore them. "We all had so much in common. Being monster food every other week for instance."

"Well," Doyle said, "you're in the big, bad city now, huh? Where everyone's a stranger- hiding behind walls, keeping secrets."

The bartender came up to the table. "Sorry folks, got to kick you out."

"Sure." Willow said and then turned to the group, "We better get back to the office. Do some research."

As they all rose from their chairs and walked toward the exit together, Xander furrowed his eyebrows and pondered, "On what exactly?"

In response, Willow's eyebrows knitted together also in confusion and shrugged.

TBC...

Lynn


	7. Lonely Hearts pt2

Hey guys! Sorry I took long... AGAIN! I just had to do a little thinking about my writing. You see, I got this one bad review that basically told me not to write anymore 'cause I sucked. And that kinda got me thinking if I should do this anymore, because I didn't get a lot of feedback either. Then I asked Christine for some advice, and now I'm good. To that person... I'm not gonna stop writing 'cause it's just a hobby. You made it sound like I was doing it professionally. I know I'm not the best writer in the world, but oh well, I still got some ppl who like my fics, and that's all I need. Anyways... Thanks for the good reviews, and a special thank you to Christine for helping me out. Enjoy!

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

"Lonely Hearts"

Part 2

With barely a night's rest, all of the gang were holed up in the office the whole day. Oz had joined them when the sun rose, but as soon as dusk approached, he had to ditch them for the underground cave.

Cordelia sat in front of the computer, while Xander, Doyle, Willow, and Buffy searched through some newspapers. They all stared at Angel dumbly when he dropped more in front of them.

"This is completely whacked, man," Doyle said, frustrated, "I don't even know what I'm looking for anymore."

Angel went to stand behind Cordelia. "You're looking for any events in and around that bar," he answered.

"Okay, I'm in the news group search engine," Cordy declared, "Now what is the name of that place again?"

"D'Oblique," Willow supplied, "Capital D, apostrophe, o-b-l-i-"

"Not so fast," Cordy stopped her, her eyes down on the keyboard, "Okay, Capital D... apostrophe, apostrophe, apostrophe," she searched the different keys for the symbol she needed. Computer science wasn't really her best class in high school. "-oh, I got it. Okay. Now what's after that again?"

There was suddenly a collective group of groans and sighs of frustration. Willow got up from the couch, and decided to be the computer whiz hero. Why she wasn't sitting in Cordelia's place in front of the computer was beyond her.

"You know, I need a break. Let me- ah- let me get in here," Willow took over the computer and typed in what they needed.

"Gotta love Will and her computer skills," Buffy commented from her seat in front of the desk, watching as Willow typed with expert speed.

"Hello! We've got two hits," Doyle exclaimed when the results pooped up not long after. Buffy and Xander made their way behind the desk and squeezed in, so they could see what they got.

Willow clicked on the first one.

"Look at that," Buffy said when they saw the article, and started to read it out loud, "Search continues for Heather Nolan. Missing since late last month, the twenty-four-year-old paralegal that vanished after leaving downtown bar called D'Oblique."

"Missing girl. That sounds a little more up your alley," Cordelia commented, looking up at Angel.

"What's the second one say," Angel asked Willow.

"Badly mutilated body found in the dumpster nearly three weeks ago, described by the coroner's office as eviscerated, has been positively identified as that of twenty-eight-year-old Martin Haber, last seen with an unidentified female companion at D'Oblique, a trendy singles establishment," Willow read.

"That's it then. Probably a lot more disappearances that the press hasn't traced back to the bar yet."

"So, we got a missing girl and a stiff," Xander commented.

"An eviscerated stiff," Buffy counteracted. She made eye contact with Angel and he nodded, reading her mind. As Angel grabbed their coats, the slayer dished out orders to the others, "Go downstairs and use the library. Try to narrow down a list of eviscerating demons, ones that might have reason to pray on young singles."

"Where are you going," Cordelia wondered.

"To the bar," Angel answered, "To see if we can meet a killer."

* * *

Angel and Buffy walked in comfortable silence to D'Oblique. As they approached the bar, Buffy felt one of her practical, yet stylish boots come loose. She looked down and noticed that her laces had come loose.

Not knowing that Buffy had stopped to tie her shoe, Angel kept on walking... right into a smaller body.

"Oh excuse me," Angel apologized. He looked up and found out it was the blonde woman from the night before.

"Well, hello," she greeted.

"Hi... Kate. Uh, I'm glad to see you again."

Buffy snapped up after she was done with her shoe. She immediately noticed that Angel was talking to that desperate blonde woman again. Knowing that their conversation would most likely be no use to her, she straightened up and walked right passed them as if she was just another stranger going into the bar. She felt Angel's eyes on her the whole time, as well as Kate's, but she continued on like she didn't notice them.

"Really...," Kate said a little skeptically, remembering how cozy he was with the blonde that just walked by them last night.

Angel pulled his gaze back to Kate. "Yeah... I owe you an apology... for last night."

"You don't owe me anything."

"No, it was rude."

"Okay, then...," a small smile spread on her face, "maybe you can buy me a drink and we can start fresh."

Angel frowned at that. "I'm not sure you should go in there tonight."

Taken back, Kate asked, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure it's safe." Angel knew he sounded like a jerk and an idiot at the same time, but it was for Kate's own good.

"What's not safe?"

"I can't really explain it."

"You know I'm having a problem trusting people- and surprise, you're not making it any better," Kate half-joked.

"I'm just asking you not to go in there."

"And where are you going?"

After an uncomfortable beat, Angel answered., "In there."

"Well, I'll tell you what... I can go wherever I want and ah,... you can go to Hell."

When Kate stormed into the bar, Angel said to himself, "Been there, done that." He sighed and went inside D'Oblique to find his girlfriend and some information.

* * *

Back at the office, the other four were sitting around, surrounded by books.

Finding something in the large tome in his lap, Xander pointed at a picture of a demon. "Hey, here's another one. Piasca. It's a flesh-eating Indian demon that enters victims through the mouth and eviscerates from within. You're going to put that down?" He asked Cordelia.

"Yeah," she noted it on the list they made of possible demons. "Ugh, demons. Is there anything more disgusting?"

Doyle exchanged looks with Willow and Xander at Cordelia's comment. "You think so?"

Cordy looked at him surprised. "Come on. Okay, look at this one," she picked up a book and pointed at a certainly unattractive demon with spines like a stegosaurus and a wreath on it's scabby head, "This demon wears a wreath of intestines around its head. I mean honestly, what kind of a statement is this thing trying to make with that?"

"Yeah, you know," Doyle said, stumbling over his words as he tried to come up with a reason to change her mind without reveling his secret demon side, "Uh, I mean, it really depends, doesn't it?... I mean some demons could actually be nice... given the opportunity. I think, you'd have to get to know them, yeah?"

Unfazed, Cordelia returned, "I've met a lot of demons, and slime aside, not a whole lot going on there."

Once again, Doyle glanced over at the two that actually knew of his other half, and saw that Willow was looking at him sympathetically, while Xander was trying to hold in his laughter.

* * *

Almost immediately, Angel found Buffy leaning leisurely on the bar, sipping on a glass of Coke.

"Hey," he greeted when he approached her.

"Hey, how's your girlfriend," she questioned teasingly.

"I tried to warn her without giving away too much, and now she hates me. She condemned me to hell."

"Well, she's too late, 'cause I already sent you there," Buffy said with a joking tone, but he could see in her eyes that the memory still caused her grief. To ease some that pain, he captured her lips in a light, reassuring kiss.

"I found out some stuff," Buffy told him when they separated.

"What?" Angel urged on a little eagerly.

"There was this guy that was looking for another guy named Kevin, who's a regular here and just went all MIA. The bartender told him that he left with a woman last night named Sharon Richler, another regular."

"Is she here tonight?"

"She was, but she left with another guy, The bartender said he was some Screech."

Unfamiliar with the term, Angel looked confused. "Screech?"

She patted him on the chest, "I'll tell you later, Honey."

"Okay, well, we need to-"

Buffy held up a page from the yellow pages that contained the address of Sharon. "Got it."

"Alright then, let's go." He grabbed Buffy's hand and the two rushed out of the bar together. Unbeknownst to them, Kate watched their every move suspiciously.

* * *

Angel and Buffy quickly got to the apartment in record speed, literally running into people on the way. As soon as they reached the right door, Angel bursted inside, surprising both him and Buffy. They looked at each other, knowing the reason why he didn't need an invitation, and started to scan the apartment grimly.

The warrior duo walked over to an open door and saw Sharon lying on the bed, looking as if she been dead for a week. They moved their eyes over a few yards and saw a small dark-haired man tugging on a black shirt. The weird thing was that a tail end of a some creature disappeared into his back, and left no visible marks behind.

He suddenly sensed Buffy and Angel behind him and turned around. "You're not human," he commented toward Angel.

"Newsflash, pal, you're a bit off the evolutionary chart yourself," Angel returned.

All three of them looked over to the corpse of Sharon.

"This has to stop," Buffy stated with an intimidating tone, "You have to stop."

"I will," It said slowly and evilly, "When I find the right one. The one I can stay with."

"The right body? What's wrong with this one?"

"Nothing," the demon examined its newly required body, "-yet. It's new and different. It's great... But it won't last. I already know it's not the one I can live in."

"Well, then it'll have to be the one you die in."

The demon stalked toward the battle prepared couple and attacked the slayer first.

For a small demon in a wimpy body, the burrower was pretty strong. After a few hits, the demon threw Buffy against a shelf, causing her a hard hit to the head and left her unconscious as she slid to the floor.

With a growl, Angel lunged toward the demon in his feral, demonic face. They exchanged some evenly matched blows, but then the demon managed to drop Angel with a punch to his back and slammed his head into a wall. Persistent and pissed as ever, Angel shot back up and they began to hit and throw each other around again. The burrower crashed Angel's head through a glass casing before he picked him up and threw him through the air. Angel hit the same wall Buffy was slumped against and slid down next to her.

Before Angel could get up again, the demon-possessed man took off and disappeared within a blink of an eye. Angel let out a growl when he found that he had lost his opponent.

He heard fast approaching steps, and was shocked to see that it was Kate. He got to his feet and transformed back into his normal features before Kate could see.

"Kate, what are you doing here?"

He saw her look passed him, and followed her blue eyes. His eyes widened when she saw her looking at the dead body on the bed and Buffy's unconscious form on the floor.

"Look, I know what this looks like," he tried to explain. Betrayal, anger, and hurt were three of the aspects he could read on Kate's face.

Suddenly, Kate aimed a cocked pistol at his face and pulled out a police badge. "So do I." With her gun still held up, she put her badge back into her pocket. "LAPD. You have the right to..."

"I waive it. How did you find me?"

"I've been tracking you since last night."

"Listen...," he tried to move closer.

"Don't move! Not a step. Backup is on the way."

"We're on the same side. I'm after this guy, too."

"You're telling me you're an investigator?"

"More or less," he replied, unsure of how to answer that question.

"Where's your license?"

"That's the less part."

"Right."

"Kate, you don't know, you didn't see-,"

"What I see is the carving job of an impotent sicko. It's frustrating, isn't it, not being able to connect, to love like other people? I mean, how do you get them to trust you, Angel? Give them the big dark eyes, the 'I'm not good with talk' speech?"

"He gives them what they are longing for," he tried once again, a little more forcefully.

She raised an eyebrow at him, the gun still separating them two. "And that is?"

"Hope. That the loneliness is going to end, and he is going to do it again..."

"Unless I let you go so you can stop him," she finished for him sarcastically, "Save me the lines. I've heard them."

"And I've heard yours. Something about not being able to trust people?"

Kate put away her gun and took out her handcuffs. "Turn around," she ordered bitterly.

Angel did as he was told and put his hand up against the wall with a sigh. He stole a glance over at his girlfriend and saw her starting to stir. Kate slapped a cuff around his right wrist and pulled his other arm down.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"Is that a confession?"

"I didn't do that. I'm sorry for this!" He kicked back and knocked her down. He sprinted over to a now fully awake Buffy and scooped her into his arms.

He managed to dodge the bullets Kate fired at him on his way to the window, and felt a sense of deja vu. "Oh no. Not again," he heard Buffy mumble right before he dived out and landed on a hood of a car.

* * *

Cordelia unlocked and opened the door to her less than fancy apartment. Doyle, Xander, and Willow followed her in, all of them were holding stacks of books.

The three guests examined Cordelia's abode, and found themselves speechless that someone like Cordelia would ever live in a dump like the one they were standing in. It was a small space, with only a living room with furniture that looked like it came from the Salvation Army, and a questionable looking bathroom. The place was a mess, clothes and papers were thrown about carelessly, while bags and cartons of junk food laid open on the table and even the floor.

"Wow," Doyle spoke up, "This... place is... I thought girls were supposed to like pretty things."

"Ugh. Don't start okay? Angel told us to meet here, so we're meeting here. That doesn't mean you can..."

Xander picked up a black bra and held it up to his chest; he and Doyle smiled at the brunette in amusement.

Cordelia snatched it away with irritation. "That is so highschool! Cordelia wears bras. Ooh, she has girly parts!"

"Take it easy. You're being a tad defensive here," Xander said.

"I think it's refreshing to see a woman living like this," Doyle threw in, "You know, it means you're not so uptight. Means you live for the moment." He began to walk, but stepped into a dirty cereal bowl sitting on the floor. Xander, Willow, and Doyle looked at the bowl and then at Cordy with a grimace. "You're disgusting," Doyle changed his opinion of her.

Cordelia dismissed it and went to answer the door when someone knocked. "Who is it," she called out.

"It's us," she heard Buffy's voice.

Cordy undid the chain holding the door and opened it. Angel and Buffy stood on the other side, both of them looked a bit beaten up.

"Oh my God. Are you okay," Cordelia questioned.

Buffy stepped inside, but Angel still stood in the doorway a little uncomfortably.

"Look, I-I can't, umm..."

"Invite him in," Doyle demanded impatiently.

"As long as you're alive, vampires, they can't cross the threshold unless you...," Buffy informed her.

"Oh, right, right," she turned to Angel sternly, "You promise you'll stay good," she said, obviously still afraid of Angelus like everyone else.

"Cordelia," Angel and Buffy warned simultaneously.

"I'm kidding. Come in." He entered and she closed the door behind him.

"What happened to you two," Willow questioned worriedly, "You look wrecked!"

"The woman that I was talking to at the bar last night... you know, Kate?"

"She's the killer," Cordelia assumed.

"She's a cop. Followed me to another body."

"Now she thinks you're the killer," Xander summed up.

"Yeah. So we don't have a lot of time to...," he trailed off and looked around his surroundings when he saw Buffy staring at Cordelia's decor in shock. He grinned at Buffy and then at Cordelia. "You actually live here," he asked, laughter was evident in his voice. The others laughed quietly along with him.

"Yes," she hissed, "okay? Is it my fault that maid service was interrupted? It was supposed to go, home, hotel, hotel, husband. Now can we move on?"

"Yeah, well, we put together that list of eviscerating demons that you asked for. We actually narrowed it down to three or four," Willow told Buffy and Angel.

"We saw it. It's a burrower," Buffy informed them.

"It's a donkey," Cordelia said, causing everyone to stare at her weirdly, "Oh, we didn't see any donkey demons."

"Burrower," Angel said more clearly and firmly for her.

"Oh."

"It eviscerates its victims as it moves from body to body, and it may only be able to do it after some kind of a sex act, exchange of fluids kind of thing."

"Eww," Cordelia exclaimed while Willow wrinkled her nose in disgust and Xander and Doyle simultaneously said, "Lovely."

"Look, I want you to find out anything you can about this thing. Weaknesses especially. It was amazingly strong while we were fighting. It may be hard to kill."

"We're on it," Doyle confirmed.

"Good, We're going to get back to the bar, see if we can find this thing."

"What makes you think that it will show," Xander inquired, "It knows you're after it."

"It'll be out there," Buffy returned, "It's got to keep trying to make a connection."

"Why," Cordelia asked before they headed out again.

Angel turned to them, "Because that's what lonely people do." Buffy lightly grasped his fingers, and together they left the apartment.

* * *

While the crew was out, Kate stepped into Angel Investigations cautiously with her gun drawn. She took the stairs that lead down to Angel's apartment and searched around for the man in question or for any clues to use against him.

She went into the kitchen and opened the fridge; it was lucky for Angel that he drained his last bag of blood that morning. She went further into the apartment and frowned at the assortment of weapons that decorated Angel's wall. The blonde cop was inwardly berating herself for letting her guard down and actually trusting this guy.

She was determined, though. One way or another, she was going to find something to bring the dark, mysterious man down. No one messed with Detective Kate Lockley, no matter how sexy or charming they were.

* * *

It was during the pre-dawn hours, and a tired Angel and Buffy walked down the sidewalk that lead to Cordelia's trashy apartment. The hunt for the missing burrower was unsuccessful.

They went to bar after bar within the city limits. They examined every person in the establishments that could house the demon, but it was to no avail.

With their arms wrapped around each other, they entered the apartment to find Xander, Cordelia, and Doyle asleep on Cordy's beat up couch; Willow seemed to be missing.

When Angel slammed the door, the three snapped awake.

"Morning," Buffy greeted, her lack of enthusiasm was palpable.

"Hey, ah," Doyle said, "so any luck yet?"

"No, not yet," Angel sat down in a chair, and Buffy plopped into his lap, "I know I can recognize this thing if I saw it in another body."

"That shouldn't be a problem then. That narrows it down to what? Five million suspects in the naked city," Xander sarcastically commented.

Angel massaged the bridge of his nose. "Where's Willow," he wondered out of nowhere.

"She went to check on Oz," Cordelia answered.

"Okay. Did you find anything?"

"Yeah," Xander said, "We found a name for this burrower guy. Tahlmer? He's been around forever. A dawn of time kind of dude."

"Any weaknesses," Buffy questioned.

"Few and far between. This kid is strong like you said. Not too crazy about fire though," Doyle said.

"Something we have in common," Angel dead-panned.

"It's a parasite," Cordelia informed, "It moves from body to body. And when it leaves one for the next, not going to gag here, but the first one goes kaplooey pretty fast."

"Yep, curdles like cream on a hot day," Xander said.

"I believe I covered that with non dairy kaplooey," she started to argue with him. It suddenly felt just like highschool.

Angel patted the side of Buffy's thigh as a signal to her that he wanted to get up. They stood up from the chair. "I'm going to need help to find this thing."

"Well, who are you calling," Doyle asked.

"Kate."

Buffy's eyes widened. "Cagney and Lacy Kate? I thought we were hiding from her."

"We were. But she's been tracking this thing a lot longer than we have." Angel picked up the phone and looked up in time to catch the frown on Buffy's face.

"Lockley," Kate answered the phone.

"It's me, I need you to help me find the killer."

"That's easy. I'm talking to him," Kate replied coldly.

"That would make things nice and clean now, wouldn't it? But it's not true and I think some part of you knows that. Look he's still out there. We should be sharing information."

"That's not possible."

"All I need is five minutes. You think I'm your man after that, arrest me. Meet me at the bar at seven."

"Sure, that's actually on my to-do list for this week: walk into a serial killer's trap."

"Look, I don't care if you come armed, wired, and covered by sharp shooters. Do whatever it takes so you feel secure," From the corner of his eye, he saw Buffy's pacing suddenly stop and knew she was giving him a death glare for putting himself in that much danger. "I can help you Kate, but you're just going to have to trust me."

With that, he hung up the phone and looked at the others watching him expectantly.

* * *

If Angel thought his and Buffy's romantic moment was unattainable before, he could just throw any chance of revival out the window now.

When the time came for him to meet Kate, he ordered her to stay with the others. He didn't want to risk the chance of another run-in with Tahlmer and she getting hurt again. He was now on his way to D'Oblique, and he left a very pissed off slayer behind him.

He entered the club, yet again, and scanned for the blonde cop. He couldn't wait until this thing was over so he didn't have to step foot in this horrible place ever again.

Angel went up to the bar and asked one of the bartenders if he had seen Kate. The man informed him that she had gone into the back room with the main bartender. Angel's heroic instincts took over, and he hauled ass to the back.

Having impeccable timing as always, he found the bartender looming over an unconscious Kate. Just before he could make contact with her revealed skin and release Tahlmer into her, Angel grabbed a board and hit him upside the head. The bartender was thrown back and he dropped Kate. The demon that was poking out of his chest retracted, and unlike before, left a mark behind.

Angel grabbed a hold of Kate's shoulders, "Kate! Kate? Can you move?"

"Move," he suddenly heard Buffy's voice and pulled Kate out of the way right when the bartender slammed a keg down on them. Buffy hurled her fist into his stomach, and stared at the flap of skin hanging loose from his forehead where it got hit by the board with disgust.

"Eww... I guess you're done with that body." The bartender grabbed her and shoved her violently against the fence of the storage closet.

"Buffy," she heard Angel exclaim.

Still pressed up against the metal-linked gate, she started to talk. "It's tough being the guy. You don't get to finish, you just come apart at the seams."

Buffy slammed her head back into his face, causing the bartender to stumble back a few steps. She hung onto the fence and swung up her legs to capture the man's neck into a scissor hold. She used the leverage to twist her body and throw him to the ground.

Kate watched her fight with astonishment, and a little bit of confusion. She remembered her being the girl that Angel "kidnaped."

"Wasn't she one of the victims at the house," the cop asked Angel, who's eyes were glued on his girlfriend.

"No, she's the fighter," he stated rather proudly.

When the bartender took the upper hand and almost tossed Buffy into the basement storeroom, Angel ran up and grabbed him away from her.

He tossed him aside, but he retaliated by throwing Kate into them, and they tumbled down the stairs. The bartender slammed the door shut, effectively trapping them in the basement.

"We can't let him get away," Kate said when they untangled their bodies at the foot of the stairs.

"He's not going to leave. He's going to kill again, now," Angel told her.

"You think so?"

"He has to." Angel got up from the floor and helped Buffy up. "I thought I told you to stay behind," he said to her.

"Yeah, and I told you I wouldn't, so what's the big deal," she returned.

"You could've gotten hurt again."

"Well I didn't. You've known me for a few years now, you know I can take care of myself... and I'm just as stubborn as you, so let's move on." Buffy let it go and kissed him on the cheek to end it.

Angel sighed and ran his hand from her hair to her neck affectionately to show that he gave in. "We need to get out of here." She nodded and he ran up the stairs, Kate was still sitting at the bottom steps.

Angel threw himself against the heavy wooden door, but it wouldn't budge. Eventually, after a few more shoves and some kicks from Buffy, they finally gave up on that method and walked down the stairs.

Angel helped up a hurt Kate from the floor, while he and Buffy looked around the room for another way out.

"Now what," Kate asked.

Buffy watched Angel as he scanned the basement. She followed his brown eyes staring thoughtfully at a row of windows lined just under the ceiling. The blonde slayer read her vampire's mind and smirked at Kate.

"We're going out that window," she told her.

The cop looked between the two as if they were crazy. "It's almost thirty feet up!"

Without a word. Angel reached into his back pocket and pulled out a grappling gun.

"How very Batman of you," Buffy commented, "Xander would be proud."

Angel just scoffed in return. He aimed it at an angled support beam next to the window. He triggered the release and the hook shot up and wrapped itself around the beam.

"Who are you," Kate questioned incredulously.

He gave the rope a good pull, which did nothing but make the wood break and fall to pieces.

"Way to go," Buffy said sarcastically, earning a glare from her boyfriend.

Finally deciding to take matters in her own hands, Kate bent down and pulled a hold-out gun out of her boot. She ran up the stairs, and shot the lock right off the door. When they were free, the three hurried out in search of Tahlmer.

They searched through the crowded club and found no trace of the decaying bartender. Right when they ran outside, they split up and ran in different directions.

With his vampire enhanced senses, Angel suddenly picked up on the smell of decaying flesh and the sounds of a screaming woman. The trail led him behind a building with three bums standing around a barrel of fire. He turned a corner and ran into an alley and found the bartender holding a struggling blonde woman.

Angel launched himself at the bartender and tackled him, knocking him away from the girl.

"Run," he ordered the girl, and she obeyed without a word.

Getting right to work, Angel flipped the bartender over a crate and threw him around. They fought intensely, but even though the bartender was falling apart, he was still stronger than Angel and didn't even flinch when the vampire threw him against the wall.

He shoved Angel into a crate and when he bounced back up, the bartender jumped up and hung from a fire escape and kicked him away. He landed in front of the flaming barrel, causing the bums to flee.

The demon grabbed Angel and tried to force his head into the burning barrel. Angel managed to spin away and throw the bartender back into the alley, but he got right back up and resumed fighting.

After a few hard hits, the demon bartender threw Angel out of the alley again, and toward the barrel. He ran to jump on top of Angel, but the vampire used his foot to catapult him over his head. The bartender overturned the barrel and bursted into flames.

Horrible screeches came from the living torch, as he stumbled toward Angel, who was desperately trying to move, but found no strength left in his body.

As the walking flames got closer to a weakened Angel, Buffy and Kate ran into the alley.

"Angel," Buffy cried out. Just when she was about to run in to save him, Kate blocked her and fired a few bullets. The burning bartender faltered back and fell to the ground.

Angel turned his head and saw the girls behind him, and finally allowed himself to collapse. Buffy ran around Kate and dropped to her knees to help her boyfriend get to his feet.

* * *

Not long after, a fire truck, an ambulance, and a police car were parked at the mouth of the alley. Paramedics wheeled a gurney with a body bag filled with what was left of the bartender over to the ambulance.

After a routine conversation with another detective, Kate immediately turned when a stronger Angel walked up to her with Buffy wrapped in his arms.

"It all seems to add up," Kate told them, "The bartender was connected to everyone... I must've talked to him a dozen times. I never had a clue."

"It's hard to get to know people," Angel replied.

"Yes, it is," she sadly agreed. "I didn't thank you... both of you... for saving my life."

"I think saving his is a start," Buffy said and smiled gratefully at her and then lovingly at Angel.

Kate stared at the couple for a moment, and she felt a distinct pang of envy and sadness. "I think you should know I searched your place... illegally, no warrant."

Before Buffy could voice her most likely irrational opinion, Angel queried, "Why are you telling me?"

"I don't know. I guess so we can start fresh. No secrets... That's some pretty weird stuff for a veterinarian."

Angel and Buffy exchanged half smiles; there was a secret twinkle in their eyes.

Angel dug into his trench coat pocket and pulled out one of his calling cards.

"Look, if you ever need us, or if we can help you in any way...," he trailed off and handed her the card.

Kate looked at it confused. "What is this? A lobster?"

Buffy snickered at her comment and Angel took the card away from her.

"Uh... We'll be around." When Kate got distracted by the other detective, Angel and Buffy stealthily walked away and disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

Back at the office, Angel paced and talked while the rest of the group stared at him.

"I know you guys have been working hard. I mean, you've been cooped up inside a lot. And to show my appreciation I was thinking... The night being, you know, young and all... that the seven of us- could- well, should... you know, maybe... go out... you know, for fun," he stumbled.

Doyle, Xander, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia exchanged looks before standing up and gathering their things.

"Or we can go home," Cordelia retaliated.

"And you can sit in the dark alone," Xander said.

"With Buffy," Doyle finished, winking at the blonde.

Angel breathed a sigh of relief, "God yes! Thank you."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at him. "What makes you think you're going to be alone with me?"

A chorus of "Ooooh's" were sung before the filed out of the office. The lights were flicked off and in the darkness, Buffy's joyful giggle echoed.

TBC..

Oh! I forgot! I need to respond to some questions that ppl asked... Don't worry, Lindsey will come, but I don't think he comes 'til "Five by Five"... so... patience is a virtue. And I don't know if this is gonna be a Xander/Cordy thing or Doyle/Cordy thing. The only definite couples that I'm gonna have is of course Buffy/Angel and Willow/Oz. If anybody has anymore questions, just ask. Just no more negative feedback... They're not very fun.

Lynn


	8. In the Dark pt1

I got a WHOLE bunch of feedback and support, and for that I am grateful. REALLY! THANK YOU! Oh, and there maybe some (or a lot) of grammatical errors, but it's late (or early) and I just don't care. Just wanted to point it out before someone else did, let them know that I know.

Lynn

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process.

SUMMARY: This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

"In the Dark"

**Part 1**

"Another uninterrupted forty minute-block. You are listening to LA's only alternative KLA-Rock. It's 11:05, do you know what your karma is?"

Oz clicked off the radio and cut the engine off of his van after he pulled up in front of Angel's apartment. He reached over next to him and gently shook the sleeping slayer in the passenger seat awake.

"Buffy... Buffy, we're here."

Buffy blinked open her green eyes and stretched out her cramped arms.

"Mmm... finally," she yawned, "You got it?"

Oz picked up a ring that was safely placed in the cup holder. "Got it," he replied. Buffy nodded and with that, they got out of the van and headed toward the building.

Over the weekend, Oz and Buffy made a little trip to Sunnydale. Oz had a gig with the Dingoes, while Buffy was there to pick up some stuff and to see how the Hellmouth was doing with the brunette slayer in charge.

Of course, the simple planned trip became anything but simple. While they were in Sunnydale, their favorite platinum blonde vampire came back to town once again, and also brought along an unlikely accomplice with him.

Spike had nearly destroyed Sunnydale from underground in search of the Ring of Amarra. Apparently, the vampire had been there for awhile, holed up beneath the Hellmouth's soil, with none other than the newly vamped Harmony Kendall.

The piece of jewelry that Spike was after held great power. It made vampires invincible, immune to anything that vampires were "allergic" to.

Unfortunately, Spike had obtained the ring, but luckily, Buffy got the ring from him before he could do any real damage.

Giles wanted to destroy the ring, but Buffy had better plans for it. She had to admit to herself that some of the reasons she didn't want to destroy the ring were a bit selfish, but Angel really, truly deserved it.

"Hello LA," Oz said when they entered the office. Cordelia and Doyle looked up with smiles from Cordy's desk, while Willow jumped up in excitement, and headed straight for her boyfriend's arms.

"Hey guys," Buffy greeted after a quick round of hugs, "What's going on?"

At that question, Cordelia beamed brightly and held up a piece of paper that said, "Invoice" in big, bold letters. "We had our first walk-in client!"

"That's great... Is he downstairs?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes at Buffy's lack of interest and sudden change of subject. "Yes, he is."

"Great! Thanks," Buffy then gestured to Oz to follow her, and they made their way to the elevator.

"What's going on," Willow asked, following the two; Doyle and Cordelia were right behind them, just as curious.

"We have a present for Angel," Buffy answered cryptically.

Cordelia huffed, "So it is true then? After a while, couples do start acting alike."

Buffy chose to ignore the comment and drew up the elevator door.

Just in time, Angel walked by thumbing through a book. He was probably about to have a busy night of reading and brooding. 'My man's a wild one,' Buffy thought.

"Hey guys," Angel said, only sparing a quick glance from his book. Not even a second later did he finally register that his love stood right in front of him, and looked up.

A huge smile, only reserved for Buffy, lit up his face. He opened his arms and let his girl enter his embrace.

After a few beats, Cordelia ruined the sweet moment with her impatience. "Okay that's lovely and all, but can you tell us what you got Angel?"

The couple took their focus off each other, but kept their arms around the other.

"Oz," Angel greeted the werewolf.

"Hey," he replied and nodded.

"Nice visit?"

"You could say that."

"Drive safe?"

"Of course."

Doyle looked between the two. "Are they always like this," he asked to no one in particular.

"No, we're usually laconic," Oz retorted.

"Come on in," Angel told the group, and lead them into the kitchen. "So what brings you by?"

"Mostly to see you," Buffy grinned up at him, "But also to give you this." Oz placed a small object in her hand, and she held it up for Angel to see.

Angel stared at the gold ring with a round green gem in shock, while Doyle moved closer to get a better look.

"Is that what I think it is," Doyle asked in wonder.

"It's the Gem of Amarra," Angel stated, still staring at the ring in Buffy's hand.

"One and the same," Oz commented.

"I wanted you to have it," Buffy said, stepping closer to Angel. "Giles wanted to destroy it, but I knew it would have better use here."

"Hey, Giles," Cordelia said with a laugh, "How is good old Giles anyway?"

"He is...," Oz started.

"What? Still the cool watcher, or does he brood and bark out orders like-," Cordy received a cold look from Angel, "Nobody here," she held up her hands in mock defense and shook her head, "Mm-mmm."

Angel carefully plucked the ring from Buffy's hand and examined it in awe.

"He's good. He's Giles."

"And I'm sure we'll be interested in that later, but right now can we concentrate on the mother-load Angel just hit," Doyle said.

Angel remained quiet and deep in thought. He leaned on his kitchen table, staring at the ring intently as he rolled it around in his hand.

Extremely excited and impatient, Doyle urged him, "What are you waiting for, man? Put it on!"

"Okay, you're getting weird about this ring. Since when did you go all Versace about accessorizing," Cordelia wondered.

"Since the accessory is priceless and renders it's wearer 100 unkillable if he's a vampire."

Cordelia and Willow's eyes widened.

"Unkillable," Willow tried to clarify.

"Whew. You mean not even stakes," Cordelia asked.

"Not nothing. Not stakes, not fire, and the best thing is not even sunlight," Doyle returned.

Willow's eyes lit up with excitement that she knew her best friend most likely felt. "Oh my gosh! Buffy! Angel! This is what you always wanted! Well except for the children and human thing, but... sunlight! This is so great," she rambled.

Buffy let the smile she was holding crack through her worry towards Angel's reaction. Her best friend knew her well; she had never been happier. She was already planning picnics in the park, walks on the beach, and even fun trips to the boardwalk or maybe even Disneyland, but judging from Angel's response, or lack there of, she knew she shouldn't have counted her chickens before they hatched.

"Just think about it, man," Doyle boasted, "Pool side tanning, bargain matinees. Plus, I know a couple of strip clubs that have a fabulous luncheon buffet." At everyone's looks towards him, he tried to amend with, "I mean, it's- I've heard."

"Excuse me, but if Angel does accept this ring, I don't think he'll be spending all sunlight time at a buffet with a bunch of naked ladies and you, thank you very much," Buffy commented, she sidled up to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around his waist. She was still aware about Angel's grave expression toward the ring.

Finally, the vampire spoke, "And you want me to have this," he asked Buffy.

"Yes, of course. Who better than you," Angel just gazed into her eyes that always seemed to change from hazel to blue.

"Your old buddy Spike dug up Sunnydale looking for it," Oz told him, "He got a fist full of Buffy and left it behind."

Despite his muddled feelings about the ring, he smirked briefly at Buffy's triumph. 'That's my girl,' he proudly thought.

Buffy grinned back up at him. "I wanted to be sure it was in good hands."

Doyle walked over to the couple. "I have an idea," he interjected, sounding like a little boy on Christmas day, "Why don't you put it on and I'll stake you! It'll be fun!"

Angel gently pried himself away from the comfort of Buffy's arms; his thoughts were back on the ring. "Maybe later," Angel replied dully.

"What, are you out of your mind?"

"I said maybe later," he said a little more forcefully.

"Yeah...," Doyle tried to argue.

"Doyle."

The half-demon gave up and walked toward the elevator. "Okay, you have it your way, alright Bud. But I'm still going to celebrate with a drink down at the pub."

"He'd celebrate the opening of a mailbox with a drink at the pub," Cordelia commented. She waved goodbye to Buffy and Angel as she followed Doyle. "You coming guys?"

Willow and Oz still had their blue eyes on the other couple when Willow answered for them, "Yeah. We could eat something."

"Go ahead," Buffy insisted, "I'll meet you at home later."

The red headed wicca nodded, and after a bit, she dragged her boyfriend to the elevator.

Once they were gone, Buffy turned to Angel and placed a hand on his back.

"So what are you thinking," she asked quietly, gently rubbing his back to show that she wasn't pressuring him.

Angel sighed. "I don't know. It's a lot to take in. I mean, I don't feel like I deserve this opportunity."

"But Angel, you do. You really, truly do."

He sighed again, "I just need some time to think about it, okay?"

"Fine," she agreed, but frowned none the less. "You up for patrol," she offered.

Angel nodded. "Just let me put this somewhere safe, and we'll get going."

"Okay, hurry back."

He gave her a quick peck to the lips. "I will."

* * *

The next morning in the office, Willow stared at a hung over Doyle in amusement while Cordelia fetched him a cup of water from the cooler. 

Doyle moaned in agony and leaned heavily on the end of Cordelia's desk. He used his first two fingers to dig into the aspirin bottle he was holding to try and fish a couple out.

"Oh God. You know what would feel really good right now? One of those mind-numbing, head-cracking visions that I get from time to time," Doyle sarcastically stated. He was still struggling with the bottle of aspirin. "Because that would really kill me now. Is there some kind of trick to this?"

Willow took the bottle out of his hand.

"I think the trick is laying off the ale," Cordelia said, "before you start quoting 'Angela's Ashes' and weeping like a baby man."

"Hey, that's a good book." Willow put the pills in Doyle's accepting hand. He popped them into his mouth and washed them down.

"It's is," Willow said, "I've read it, but I don't remember the main characters being Betty and Barney Rubble as you vehemently insisted last night."

"Also, I don't think Oz appreciated being called 'My Little Bam-Bam' all night," Cordelia added.

Doyle shifted his eyes as he instantly remembered that action.

"Don't worry, he was cool with it," Willow assured him with a smile, "And I thought it was cute when you called me Pebbles."

Suddenly, a giggle came from the entrance, and they turned to see their favorite blonde slayer and Xander.

"He called you Pebbles," Xander wondered and walked up to the desk with Buffy.

"Yeah. How was class," Willow asked Buffy.

"Ugh, boring and long. I think I'm just gonna go downstairs and try to find some relax time with my honey," she said while walking to the stairs.

"What else is new," Xander mumbled to himself, but slayer hearing went a long way.

"I heard that," Buffy's voice came from the stairwell.

* * *

When Buffy entered Angel's apartment with a slight bounce in her step, her eyes caught sight of one of the most sexiest things ever. 

Angel was in a black wife beater and matching sweat pants, his body glistened with seat as he swiftly and gracefully did his Tai Chi.

In one of his movements, he slightly turned and caught a grinning Buffy gawking at him from behind. He turned around fully to face her.

"Hey, how was class," he asked like Willow had.

Buffy wrinkled her nose, "I'm just starting to wonder why I picked an early morning class," was her reply. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I missed you."

Angel held her about the waist and pulled her closer despite his sweatiness. "I missed you, too."

"If only there was a way we can see each other at all hours of the day," Buffy hinted in a wistful tone.

"Buffy..."

"I know. I'm just saying."

Before Angel could say anything, the phone rang. After the second ring, he picked it up.

"Hello?" There was only silence on the other end, "Hello?" Right when he was about to hang up, he heard his name being called from the other end and immediately recognized the scared voice.

"Rachel. Are you alright?"

"They let Lenny out," their first client told him about her violent, crack-head boyfriend, "The lawyer said something about a technicality."

"I'll be right there." He hung up the phone. "That was that girl I told you about," he said to Buffy.

"What happened?" She followed Angel to his bedroom, where he quickly changed his clothes.

"Her boyfriend got out of jail. I need to go to her to make sure he won't get to her."

"It's daylight," she pointed out, but then her face lightened up with hope and excitement, "Are you going to use the ring?"

Angel shrugged on his black shirt and had to smirk, "I'm going to go underground."

Buffy's excitement quickly vanished, and a pout replaced it.

As Angel passed by his disappointed girlfriend on his way to the exit, he planted a kiss on her cheek.

"I'll be back," he grabbed his leather coat and put it on, "I love you," he softly declared and then left a pouting Buffy behind him.

When Angel disappeared to the underground garage, Buffy's pout turned into an evil glare.

'Damn that man's stubborness,' she thought and was about to storm upstairs, and vent to Willow when she heard a stampede of footsteps hurry down the stairs.

"Guys...," she was about to ask her friends what was wrong when Cordelia frantically cut in.

"Doyle just had a vision. Where's Angel?"

Buffy's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "He just left. Wha-"

"Damn," Doyle cursed, and ran toward the underground garage where Angel just exited, everybody following his tracks.

"Spike's here," Xander informed her.

Buffy's eyes widened, "Here as in..."

"As in 'here about to kick Angel's ass for the ring' here."

The slayer let out an angry cry before pushing her way to the front and rushing to Angel. This is just what she needed today, school, stubborn Angel, and an evil Billy Idol clone.

The team ran in just as Angel threw Spike into a wall, both vampires in game face.

As Spike slowly got to his feet, he caught sight of the angry looking slayer and smirked.

"Slayer! Good to see you again," he then saw the others surrounding her, "And the whole gang's here, too! Cordelia, Red, the slayer's lap dog... it's like a reunion of sorts."

"What are you doing here, Spike," Buffy growled.

"I'm taking back what's mine."

"It's not yours. It's Angel's now."

Spike scoffed and chuckled, "Oh okay, Cutie. Since it's Angel's I'll back off now," he remarked sarcastically and then turned to Angel seriously, "I'll get that ring. This isn't over until one of us is a pile of dust, mate." With that, he ran off, disappearing in the shadows before anybody could do anything.

Buffy relaxed a little and walked up to Angel, laying one hand on his chest and the other lightly ran over the ridges of his demon face.

"Are you okay," Willow asked for her.

Angel looked away from everybody, ashamed of his vampiric features, and then turned back to his human face.

"More importantly," Doyle urged, "how's the ring?"

"It's fine," Angel answered and reluctantly left the space of Buffy's arms, and turned to the group. "I can't say the same for you guys, though. You better get out of sight until this thing is over. Spike is out for blood," he looked at Doyle, "Take them to your place, and make sure Oz goes there, too."

"His place," Cordelia said a little apprehensively, "Why can't I go home? Or to Buffy or God forbid Xander's? He doesn't know they actually live here."

"Because he knows you Cordelia," Buffy returned, "And as much as I hate to admit it, he's not stupid. He'll figure out we moved here and track us all down."

"Yeah but he's not invited, right? He can't come in."

"No," Xander said, "But he can burn the place to the ground."

"Okay then," she willingly gave in, "Doyle's place it is then."

"What about you," Willow asked Angel, "You know he'll be coming back for you before long."

"I know."

"So what are you going to do," Cordy further questioned.

"Find him first," was Angel's blunt answer.

"Alright," Doyle said, immediately satisfied with Angel's response, "let's go."

As they left, Buffy and Angel exchanged glances while Angel wiped a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, so I guess we need to find Spike," Buffy said and started to walk to the car, until Angel gently grabbed her arm to stop her.

"I still need to go to Rachel," he stated, causing Buffy to look at him incredulously.

"What? Angel, your life, unlife, is at stake here," she wrinkled her nose, realizing the unintended pun, but quickly shook it off, "We have to find Spike. Now."

"Buffy, I can handle Spike, I have for over a hundred years. Right now, I need to help Rachel. It's my job now, remember?"

She stared at him for a second and then let out a frustrated noise. "Fine. Let's go," she snapped and threw her arms in the air angrily.

Angel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, thinking that the time they will spend in the car, which will be a cold, silent time, no doubt, will probably be the only time they will be alone for awhile.

* * *

"Not Spice, that's the bird down on Broadway. Spike, like in railroads... Uh-huh... yeah, vampire, right... No?... Okay, then. Thanks." Doyle ended his conversation on the phone with one of his contacts. Willow, Oz, and Xander sat across from him on his couch, while Cordelia wore down the carpet by pacing around the small apartment, observing some of Doyle's belongings. 

The Irish man made a mark in his open address book. "Frankie Tripod? A big no."

Cordelia looked up confused from her pacing. "Frankie Tripod," she questioned the weird sounding name, "Oh I get it. Some kind of three-legged monster, right?"

"No he's human." Doyle smirked, looking quite amused, as did Xander, who immediately got the joke. Willow, bless her still innocent mind, looked a bit confused like Cordelia, and Oz, as always, had barely an expression on his face.

"Then why is his name... Oh...," The nickname became clear to her and she continued her pacing.

Willow still looked around confused. "Wait, I still don't...," Then it suddenly dawned on her and her eyes widened, "Oh, okay. That's... oh."

A grin graced Oz's stoic features, and he brushed a kiss against her temple.

"Cordy," Xander said a little agitated, "can you please stop your pacing? You're gonna clear a pathway to China. Also, you're making me a little dizzy."

Cordelia's dark eyes smoldered her ex-boyfriend, and she continued to pace, now not only to ease her anxiety, but to annoy Xander. She was interrupted, though, when Doyle got up and got in her way.

"I agree with Xander, here. Why don't you sit down. Get comfortable. Angel said I should go through every name in my book until I get a bend on where Spike is hiding out. Could be a while."

Cordelia snottily dismissed his offer, "Please. I couldn't get comfortable in here if the floor was lined with mink. I mean, how can you live like this?" She gestured toward his apartment. Just like her apartment, clothes were thrown about in piles, but unlike her place, Doyle's was a tad bit nicer.

Doyle looked at her in an amused way. "Well I didn't until last week. Then I saw what you did with your place and I just had to call my decorator," he quipped sarcastically, and a couple of snickers came from Willow and Xander.

Cordy gazed at him incredulously, "No way! My apartment isn't near this yucky."

Xander scoffed, "Your apartment makes Doyle's look like a suite from the Waldorf-Astoria." She immediately slapped him on the shoulder.

Before she sat on the arm of the couch next to him, she brushed off some crumpled pieces of paper. "It smells like bong water in here."

While he picked up some dirty clothes off his small lounge chair, he said, "Okay, a couple of laundry might be a couple of days over due, but..." The ringing of the telephone interrupted him, and he dropped the clothes in his hand to answer it.

"Yeah?... Hey, Kizzy... Yeah, vamp named Spike... No?... Okay..." Doyle's voice suddenly changed defensive, "What, a "C" note? I absolutely paid that back, man!... Hey, no, sorry, there goes my other line." He quickly slammed down the phone. At everyone's inquiring looks, he tried to save himself. "He was mistaken, but I didn't have time to get into it, right? I'm on a mission here... So what about this Spike? Is he as bad as all that? I mean should I be sweating?"

"He's really not...," Willow glanced at the other "Slayerettes", "sweat."

"That's what I figured."

* * *

When Angel and Buffy arrived at Rachel's apartment, Buffy had cooled off just a bit. She said more than one word to him, so that was good. 

As soon as Rachel opened the door, Buffy rolled her eyes. Why wasn't she surprised that it was yet another helpless blonde chick that needed Angel's help.

"Hey," the girl greeted, a recently lit cigarette in her hand, "you came."

"Of course," Angel replied, "This is my girlfriend Buffy. She helps me... do what I do."

The girls politely shook hands and they stepped further into the apartment after an invitation from Rachel.

Rachel hugged herself tightly and let the cigarette burn in her hands without even taking a drag. Buffy watched the overly stressed girl as she leaned against the wall, while Angel remained in the shadows in front of the doorway.

"You keep showing up like this and I'm going to think you're a man of your word," Rachel said after a while.

"Stranger things.."

"Not many," Rachel went into the kitchen and leaned on the counter top.

Angel finally stepped out of the shadows, but carefully skirted a patch of sun. Thank God Rachel had the blinds shut so only little sun came in.

"So we'll get you out of here," Angel told her as he and Buffy followed her, "There are places you can go, where you'll be safe."

"Like a shelter?"

"It's a start. He won't be able to find you, I swear." Buffy remembered the "shelter" that she went to when she was in LA last summer that lead to hell, but decided to keep it to herself.

"Not, it's not the shelter, it's just, half the time, you know how this thing starts up again, Lenny and me?"

"You call him," Buffy assumed, a grim look on her face.

"I-I-I just," she stabbed out the barely used cigarette onto a plate, "I just start to jones for him. The way jones for rock. And I call, or find him in some dive, and I drag him home... and it's good for awhile."

Buffy shook her head and replied firmly, "But it doesn't last. This last time he would have killed you." She referred to the time Angel found her in the nick of time in an alley with a crazed Lenny handling a gun.

Rachel tried hard not to let her tears stream down her face. "I'm scared, I'm more scared of me right now than I am of him."

"You're at a crossroads, I know," Angel said, "It's either go for the easy fix and wait for the consequences, or take the hard road and go with faith."

The scared girl suddenly got a freaked out look on her face and backed away from the couple a few steps into the living room.

"Oh God. You're not from that freaky church on Sunset, are you?"

"In yourself," Buffy clarified, "That kind of faith." She walked a little closer to Rachel, "What Angel's trying to say is, if you leave Lenny for good, it'll hurt. But eventually you'll be stronger for it. And maybe you'll find your way to the kind of love you deserve."

"You mean the kind of love that comes without 911 calls," she half-heartedly joked.

"That's the general idea," Angel said.

"Hey," Buffy said lightly, "Leaving loved ones for the better ... He's talking from experience here."

Angel awkwardly cleared his throat and shook his head when Buffy looked over at him with a grin.

* * *

"Oh yeah, Spike's nearly done Buffy in a few times," Cordelia informed Doyle as she snacked on a bag of microwave popcorn she found in the kitchen, her voice sounding a little too upbeat. "I mentioned that he's killed two slayers already?" 

Doyle nodded, "You did."

"Oh, and this one time, he and Dru raised this demon that burned people from the inside," Willow told him and snagged some popcorn from Cordelia.

"It was this whole weird thing with an arm in a box," Xander finished for her, taking a handful of popcorn as well.

"An arm in a box," Doyle questioned skeptically, and they all nodded.

The phone rang and Doyle picked it up. "House of Pies," he answered in a different, nasally voice.

"Doyle? Is that you," Buffy asked over the line. She watched as Angel tested out his wrist sheathes, he threw newly made ones to her.

"Oh, sorry, lass. Just laying low. All those calls to past acquaintances stirred up a few, uh, old resentments."

"I hope it was worth it," she said, strapping on the weapons.

"Yeah, well, listen. Manny the Pig said he didn't know anything about a vampire named Spike."

"So?" She shot out her arm, causing the hidden stake to snap out. A smile lit her face as she marveled at the idea of all the damage she could do with her new toy. Her boyfriend was such a dangerous genius.

"So he said that before I mentioned anything about Spike. You'll find him at a joint down on Third called the Orbit Room."

"Okay," she manually retracted the stake to put it back into place, "we'll start with Manny the Pig then."

"Work your way down."

* * *

The couple did actually start with Manny the Pig, but it suddenly turned into a game of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", only with Spike instead, of course. Three different low-lives lead them to a pub, to a strip club, and now to an underground poker game. 

Finally, the man Angel held roughly told them Spike was just behind the building.

When the two walked out the back door and into the alley, they found Spike snacking on a struggling, young girl.

"Let her go," Buffy said calmly, but with intimidation.

Spike looked up from the whimpering girl, vamp face still in place, blood dripping from his fangs.

"Did anyone ever tell you, you were a hell of a buzz-kill, Slayer?" He threw the girl into Angel's arms and took off.

"Run," Angel told her and he and Buffy went after Spike.

Spike ended up at the end of an alley that was blocked by a chain linked fence.

"Caught me fair and square, White Hats," Spike declared, sounding bored. He turned around to face them and slowly lifted his hands over his head mockingly. "I guess there's nothing to do now but to go quietly and pay my debt to society."

Buffy and Angel closed in on him slowly.

"You think you can come to my town and pull this crap," Angel growled, "You never learn Spike."

Spike, with his usual smug face, laid his hands on top of his head. "I may be a slow learner..."

The sounds of chains rattled behind Buffy and Angel and they turned around. A bald man with a white dress shirt and black pants suddenly whipped the long chain in his hands around Angel's neck and dragged him to the ground.

Before Buffy could attack, a sharp pain pricked her neck. She hissed and brought a hand up to find a small metal dart, the kind they used on Oz when his werewolf side got out of control. The Slayer turned to Spike to see a little tranq-gun in his hand. Her vision became blurry and then it turned totally black as she fell unconscious to the found with a thud.

"But eventually I learn," Spike finished, tucking the gun back in his coat pocket.

* * *

At Doyle's apartment, Xander, Cordelia, Willow, and Oz huddled around the phone, anxiously waiting for it to ring, while Doyle paced back and forth like Cordelia had done before. 

"Buffy and Angel should've called by now," Willow stated and then sighed, "This is bad."

"Maybe not," Doyle returned, trying to sound optimistic, "Maybe they did away with Spike in short order, and decided to give a go at surfing?"

"Right," Cordy agreed, "What are we worried about? Angel has the ring, right?"

"Right," Xander joined in, "I bet he's hanging 10 right about now, off the sandy shores of Malibu. Wind in his hair..."

"Yeah, he and Buffy are probably soaking in the sun together, taking a romantic walk on the beach," Willow tried to convince herself and the others that they were okay, but knew that their little theories were less than likely to be true.

TBC...


	9. In the Dark pt2

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process.

SUMMARY:This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

**Part 2**

As Angel slowly regained consciousness, he found that his arms were chained up high from the ceiling of a dark, abandoned warehouse.

Across from him, he caught saw the man, or vampire, that had helped put him in this position. He pulled out an LP record and put on some classical music. He then opened up a trunk and pulled out some torture tools and carefully added them to the collection on the table in front of him.

At sight of the tools, Angel suddenly jerked awake. His mind immediately frantically thought of the whereabouts of Buffy and her safety. His eyes scanned the warehouse, and finally saw her unconscious self gagged and wrapped up in chains in a metal chair nearby.

From his spot on the edge of the table, Spike mistook his weak struggle in his chains as a fear of being tortured, instead of fear for his girl.

"Marcus is an expert," Spike informed him, "Some say artist, but I've never been comfortable with labels. He's a bloody king of torture, he is." He pushed off the table and made his way toward his victim with his arms crossed. "Humans, demons... politicians, makes no difference," he slowly started to circle Angel, "Some say he invented some of the classics, but he won't tell me which ones. Beneath the cool exterior, you'll find he is rather shy. Except with kids," he called out to Marcus, "You like kids, don't you Marcus?" He went back to speaking to Angel, "Well, likes to eat." He leaned in closer to him, "And other nasty things."

Angel thrashed in his chains, and Spike pulled back with a satisfied smirk on his face. He loved the fact that he could taunt his grandsire as much as he wanted and he could do nothing about it, because he was all helpless and chained up, less powerful than he.

The platinum blonde vampire stole a glance toward the slayer.

"Don't worry about your girl, mate. Marcus has this thing with not using loved ones as a torture device, unless it's absolutely necessary. Pity though, I had some ideas that would've made you talk and her scream."

Angel yanked on his chains once again, but found that they were really strong and unbreakable. "You touch her, you're dead," he warned, and Spike just snickered.

"Yeah, okay. What are you going to do about it? Flail about in your chains," he chuckled once again and let the torturer take over.

Marcus put on his wire-rim glasses as he walked over to Angel. He opened up Angel's maroon shirt and stared at his chest.

"His skin...," Marcus started.

"Annoying isn't it? Still attached."

"Over two hundred years of living and so little external damage... What about internal?"

Spike raised his brow. "Do you two need to be alone, or can we go on to the ouchy part?"

Marcus laid a hand over Angel's unbeating heart, and he flinched at his tough, "He's known love," he stated.

"Yeah, and with a slayer no less," he remarked with disgust, sparing a glance toward the knocked out blonde, "How is that for perversion?"

"And he has a soul."

Spike sighed in boredom. "Right, vampire with a soul. Cursey-cursed to walk the earth trying to do good. That's not going to be a problem is it?"

"On the contrary. Creatures with souls have something to lose."

"Souls, fingers, toes... Let's get chopping will you," Spike rushed him, "I want my damn ring."

"What do you want, Angel," Marcus asked his victim, ignoring Spike's order.

"Are you going to torture me, or just bore me to death," Angel mouthed off.

Marcus picked up a hot poker from a fire-barrel, and immediately stabbed it clear through Angel's lower right chest. Angel suppressed a scream, keeping strong so he wouldn't give in.

"Probably a little of both," Marcus quipped.

"Someone's having shish kabob," Spike commented with a smile.

Later on, Angel still hadn't given up, but in consequence, he had more hot pokers sticking through different parts of his body, making him look like a life size voodoo doll. He was panting with unneeded breath from the pain and suppressing the urge to scream.

While Spike paced impatiently, Marcus stood calmly in front of Angel as he played with some pliers.

"What do you want Angel," he again asked him.

"A house in the country, a pair of good running shoes that you can also wear out to dinner," angel retaliated, gasping.

"Why do you keep asking him that," Spike growled agitated, "And why do you keep playing that bleeding Brahms," he indicated toward the classical music playing from the record over and over again.

"Actually, it's Mozart, 'Symphony 41'. I find it very effective."

"Yeah? Personally I prefer his older, funnier symphonies myself," he started, but then yelled angrily, "Look I want my ring back," he smashed off a wooden handle of one of Marcus' tool and aimed his new stake at Angel's chest, "If I don't get it pretty soon, I'm going to stake me old grandsire right here and now!"

"Are you finished," Marcus questioned the raging Spike, "He knows you won't kill him until you get the ring. He knows you're lying."

Knowing he was right, Spike dropped the stake and turned to Marcus, "You get it for me."

While talking to Spike, he looked at a suffering Angel, "Soon he'll want to tell me everything he knows and then some. Even without resorting to the girl. And he knows I'm not lying."

Marcus went to the table to heat up more pokers, and Spike stayed by Angel.

"I believe he does," Spike said.

"You're an idiot, Spike," Angel gasped out.

"You think? Because I'm not the one chained to the ceiling with hot pokers in my side."

"You hired a vampire. What do you think he going to do with the ring when he finds it, huh? Hand it over to you?"

Spike pretended to look scared at the thought, "Oh good Lord, why didn't I think of...? Oh, wait half a mo', I did. I hired a guy who doesn't care about the ring, or anything else on God's green earth except taking blokes apart one piece at a time. It's called addiction, Angel. We all have it... I believe yours is named Slutty the Vampire Slayer." The music finally stopped and Spike paused to sigh in relief, "Thank you," he said to himself. He glanced over at Buffy, her head lolled to the side, and had a small gash on her forehead.

"Speaking of little Buff," Spike continued, "she is cute when she's all tied up, isn't she?"

"I think she's cuter when she's kicking your ass," he returned.

To Spike's dismay, Marcus started the LP over a gain, and the blonde vampire sighed in annoyance.

"I think I will get a bit of fresh air; leave you two kids to it." Marcus stuck a "fresh" hot poker through Angel's thigh, causing him to let out a short scream from not expecting the sharp, brutal pain. "Now that is music!"

Spike made his way to Angel's apartment through the sewer entrance.

"If I was a ring, where would I be," he wondered out loud.

He went to the kitchen and started to knock things off the counter and shelves. When all he accomplished was broken glasses and dishes, he paused and took a quick glance around.

"Well, this is fun... But it's going to get old real fast."

Using the elevator to the office, Spike found the search in the apartment fruitless. On the plus side, he managed to ransack his grandsire's impeccably clean place.

He slid open the elevator door, only to find Cordelia with a loaded crossbow and Willow with a wooden cross blocking his way.

"When you're done giving the place the Johnny Depp once-over, I hope you have cash to pay for all of this," Cordelia said.

Spike took a few steps closer to the girls, but still kept his distance. "Cordelia, Willow," he glanced between the two, "Love the hair."

"Wish we could say the same," Cordelia quipped.

When Spike tried to get a little closer, the guys came up on either side of the girls. Doyle and OZ held stakes, while Xander had one of Buffy's crossbows.

"That's close enough," Xander growled.

"What's with you good guys running in packs," Spike questioned, and then nodded towards Doyle, "Who's this one then?"

"More than meets the eye, Blondie," Doyle replied, not too nicely.

"Ooh," Spike teased, "the Mick's got spine! Maybe I'll snap it in two."

"Do you want me to use this," Xander said.

Spike gazed seriously at the slayer's loyal friend, "You'll be dead before that arrow leaves the bow." Spike's words effected Cordelia's brave front and she lowered her bow slightly. Xander, on the other hand, swallowed his fear, and didn't let up on his aim.

"Now where was I? Bloody tired of looking for that ring. I think you should take over now."

"Where's Buffy and Angel," Willow demanded.

"Angel, um... Tall brooding guy, caveman brow with a blonde headed bitch for a girlfriend?... They're having the living hell tortured out of them," he embellished a bit, not telling them that Angel was the only one getting tortured, but loving the horror on their faces. "And you know how stubborn those two could be. They might die before they give up the ring. Why don't you five find it real fast and give it to me? I'll let the power couple go."

Cordelia glared at him. "I don't trust you."

"To coin a popular Sunnydale phrase: 'duh!' But you have until sundown to save them. You'll find me behind Peterson's Fishery between Seward and Westminster. Don't be late." He walked off leaving the group to stare at each other with worry.

* * *

"You did terrible things when you were bad didn't you," Marcus monologue-d to Angel, his back toward him as he fiddled with some of the tools on the table he had yet to use on Angel, "And now you are trying so hard to do good. But Angel, there is nothing either bad or good, but thinking makes it so."

While he rambled on, Angel used his feet to reach for the stake Spike dropped earlier. Buffy, who had woken up when Marcus fired holes in the ceiling to let streams of sunlight in, smirked as well as she could with a dirty rag in her mouth, when her boyfriend got hold of the lethal, wooden weapon.

Marcus faced Angel again and walked toward him, "Now I can make the pain go away," he pulled out one of the pokers, causing Buffy to wince and turn her head away when Angel let out a scream of pain, "and as you know," he pulled out another poker, and a tear streamed out of Buffy's eye as Angel screamed again, "I can bring it back again. Marcus walked back to the table and leaned against it, "What do you want, Angel? I think I know, but I'd like to hear it from you. The truth. I'll know if you're lying." He stood back in front of him.

"I want... forgiveness," Angel said weakly.

"Yes. That's the truth, and you want to earn it. You're not the type that takes the easy way out. Which is why I like you so much. In the end, you won't feel guilt, or remorse, or anything but pure darkness. In the end, the ring, the past, none of it will mean anything anymore. You'll be free. I promise."

"And I promise," he pretended to give in further, but then finished with, "to kill you." He swung up his legs and drove the stake towards Marcus' chest with his feet, but was intercepted when Spike came out of nowhere and grabbed his legs.

"Now, now," Spike said, "staking the torturer is strictly prohibited."

He let go of Angel's legs, and Marcus lunged toward Angel, landing a brutal punch across his face. Spike pulled him back before he can hurt him any further without torture tools.

"Easy fella, still need that ring," then Spike said to Angel, "Now you're made him mad. Wouldn't want to be in your chains."

"Won't be long now," Marcus told him.

"Well, what's say I'll grab a pair of needle-nose pliers and give a hand," Spike heard a whimper come from Buffy and smiled at her, "Oh good, you're awake. Now you'll ge tto see some fireworks."

Buffy closed her eyes tightly, and her ear drums rattled with Angel's tortured screams.

* * *

"Drat," Cordelia exclaimed when she exited the bathroom, joining Doyle in the bedroom, while the others searched through other parts of Angel's apartment.

Doyle looked up briefly from the drawers he was going through, "What?"

"It's not in the freezer and it's not in the toilet tank. In the movies it's always in one of those places."

"It's not here," Willow claimed as she walked into the bedroom with Oz and Xander.

"Yeah, but we did find some juicy stuff," Xander commented excitedly and held up one Angel's provocative drawings of Buffy.

Willow rolled her eyes and grabbed the drawing away from him, blushing a bit from the very detailed drawing of her best friend.

"Xander...," she huffed.

"Xander," Cordelia said with a stern tone, "We don't have time for your perverted musings, so put it back where you found it, and help us find the ring."

"Yeah Xander," Doyle declared, "Put it back where you found it... Where did you find it exactly?"

"Oh. There's a whole drawer full of them in his desk!"

"Guys," Willow interjected, "The ring, we still have to find the ring."

"It's not here. We've looked everywhere," Xander stated after placing the now forgotten drawing on top of the bed.

"Well," Oz rang in. "Everywhere except..."

"The rat infested sewer tunnel he uses to get around in the daytime," Cordelia finished for him.

In no time, the five of them were in the dark sewer tunnels, each of them handling a flashlight.

"This is not a needle in a haystack, this is a needle in Kansas," Cordelia commented.

"Yeah, I know," Doyle said, "you're right. We just got to keep looking."

When Cordelia walked ahead a few feet with Willow and Xander, Doyle and Oz looked at each other and nodded, sharing a secret, silent conversation.

Oz watched as Doyle let his face change. Little blue spikes pooped out all over his face and his skin turned green. They simultaneously sniffed the air and Doyle went back to his human face when they wordlessly agreed on a spot.

They went to the side of the sewer, and found a loose brick at the bottom. Doyle kneeled down and lifted it up and finally found the Gem of Amarra.

"Here," Doyle exclaimed.

Cordelia, Willow, and Xander ran back to them.

"How did you do that," Cordelia asked, amazed that they actually found it.

Oz and Doyle shared secret looks before Doyle answered, "Oz sniffed it out."

Being modest, Oz returned with, "You gotta get lucky sometimes."

"I could hug you," Cordelia beamed, and Doyle willingly spread out his arms. "You're not that lucky. Now, come on we've gotta save Angel!" Cordelia ran ahead again, and the others immediately followed.

"Right," Xander said, "by giving Spike exactly what he wants so he can kill us."

"Right," she replied without registering Xander's statement, but then immediately thought about it, "No, we need a plan."

Silence draped over the group as they tried to quickly devise a plan.

Not long after, a light bulb suddenly flicked on in Willow's brilliant mind. Excitedly, she clapped her hands and her eyes lit up.

With all eyes on her, she finally let her words catch up to her mouth.

"A plan! I've got a plan," When her friends urged her on, all she did was smile at her wonderful boyfriend... who owned a van.

* * *

When they got to the alley behind the Fishery, Spike kept his promise and was right there waiting in the shadows, avoiding the bright sun.

"So, where is my ring," Spike asked immediately without looking at them.

"Not on us," Xander told him confidently. He, Cordelia, Doyle, and Willow stayed in the sunlight to protect themselves from the blonde vampire.

"But we know where it is," Willow said.

"And suddenly I'm so painfully bored," Spike replied, his tone matched his statement, "Time runs short, children," he finally looked at the four, not noticing that Oz was missing, "Give me that ring as if Angel and Buffy's lives depended on it."

"Listen you little Cockney," Cordelia spat, "take us to Angel and Buffy now."

"So, if they're still in one piece we tell you where you can find the ring," Doyle negotiated.

"They're still alive I think. In one piece was never part of the deal." Spike walked further into the shadows of the alley, and the gang suppressed their fear and bravely followed the vampire.

* * *

They walked into the warehouse in time to see Marcus drop a hog-tied and gagged Buffy at the feet of Angel who was slumped in his chains and still had a poker sticking from his side.

"Lucy, I'm home," Spike joked.

"Angel! Buffy," Willow and Cordelia exclaimed with relief and started to run towards their friends, but were blocked by Spike.

"Hey, hey! A deal's a deal."

"Cordelia," Angel gasped out, knowing if they tried to move closer without giving up the ring, Marcus would hurt Buffy.

"And our deal was for the ring. You've wasted quite enough of my time, so I'd really like it... NOW!"

"You want the ring, you dog, huh," Doyle pulled the ring from his pocket and made a little show that he had it the whole time, "Go fetch!" He tossed it passed Angel and buffy and it landed in a patch of dim sunlight.

"Okay, good. You've got the ring, we've got Buffy and Angel," Cordelia calmly said, "and now you're going to leave us alone, and we're going to leave."

The four started to slowly walk closer and Spike backed up right along with them. For good measure, Marcus held a poker he recently pulled out of Angel close to Buffy's neck. Instinctively, Angel tried to gather what little strength he had left to protect his girl, but it was to no avail.

"Come on," Spike chuckled a bit, "You don't really think that we're going to do that, do you?"

They stopped trying to move forward as Spike reached for the ring. They heard tires squeal from outside and knew Oz was right on time.

"Not really," Xander answered.

"No," Doyle added.

Oz's van suddenly crashed through the side of the warehouse, letting the sunlight pour in. It rammed through some barrels and came to a screeching halt behind Angel as Spike rolled out of the way.

Oz pulled out two crossbows and aimed them out of the driver's side window at Spike, while Xander and Doyle helped Angel and Willow and Cordelia helped Buffy get out of their chains and into the back of the van. No one seemed to notice that Marcus disappeared ever since Oz burst through the building.

With the crossbows still aimed, Oz nodded and said, "Spike."

Once they got the back door slid open, Oz kept one arm out of the van and put it into reverse. As soon as they closed the door, Oz backed out the same way he came in with tires screeching.

When they were gone, Spike jumped up and looked around frantically.

"Where's the ring?" He then realized that he got royally screwed over by Marcus. "Bloody Hell."

* * *

In Oz's van, Angel weakly laid his head on Buffy's lap as she worried over his wounds, the others looking over the two, equally worried.

"How is he doing," Oz asked over his shoulder as he drove.

"He'll live," Buffy said, stroking his sweat matted hair as her writhed in pain.

"Not without help," Cordelia claimed, "We need to get him to a hospital."

"I hear you," Oz replied, "But which one," They all tend to specialize in humans."

"He's right, too risky," Doyle agreed, "Willow, do you know any first aid?"

"Basic sixth grade," she answered, "but I can improvise. If we can get him some place dark, maybe I can..."

"Turn around," Angel demanded.

"Angel...," Buffy tried to protest.

"He's delirious. Ignore him," Cordelia said.

"Turn around," Angel insisted.

"So you can do what? It's daylight and you're ringless," Buffy angrily said to her boyfriend, "Unless you're changing the act to human torch, I don't think so. Let me go after him, he didn't damage me like you."

"She's right," Xander agreed with Buffy, "you're death on toast, man. You're in no shape to be fighting a torture demon."

Angel pulled out the poker in his side to prove his point.

"God," he yelled in pain, "Okay, he's got a thing for children. Oz, turn around. He couldn't have gone far."

With a confirming nod from Buffy, Oz spun the van around and drove to a place where they thought a lot of children would play with a lot of sunshine.

They ended up at the pier and found Marcus headed to a group of scouts surrounded around an ice-cream cart. Oz rammed the van into him and sent him flying into a few people getting fishing supplies.

Cordelia, Willow, and Xander ran out of the van to the group or frightened children.

"Run," Cordelia and Willow ordered the scouts.

"Move your little scout legs," Xander added. When they didn't budge, they ordered more firmly.

"Now! Go! Come on!" and the scouts finally scurried off with little screams.

Oz used one of the crossbows he had and shot Marcus in the chest. The newly invincible vampire was unfazed by the bolt and just ripped it out and tossed it aside.

"Damn it," Doyle curse, "I'll get him." He charged toward Marcus and swung a punch at him, but he easily ducked and hit Doyle in the face and kicked him away.

"Doyle," Cordelia gasped out of concern and ran toward him.

Buffy looked in the back of the van where Angel still resided.

"You sure about this," she gently asked him.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you." With that, Buffy quickly opened the side door and Angel launched himself out with a scream to clear the way. He caught fire as he ran to tackle Marcus. They crashed through the pier railing and into the water below, squelching out the flames.

Buffy and the others hurried to the railing and looked over the edge. They effectively formed an audience and had other people curiously looking over the edge, too. They probably thought it was some sort of stunt show.

"Where is he," Buffy frantically asked.

Angel and Marcus emerged in the shaded area under the pier. When they stood up from the shallow water, Marcus managed to kick Angel around for a few times, but the last time he tried to kick him, Angel got a boost of strength and blocked the blows Marcus sent his way. Angel hit him and threw him against a hard wooden beam.

"What were you planning to do? Kill me," Marcus questioned.

"Well, after all, I promised," Angel rumbled.

Marcus kicked Angel to the wet sand, but Angel blocked another kick. Using the foot he had a hold of, Angel yanked Marcus down and picked him back up, only to throw him into the water. His fall to the ground broke a beam behind him, leaving it to become jagged and pointy.

The torture demon got up with a feral hiss, and trapped Angel between another beam and himself.

"You never cracked me, Marcus," Angel struggled to get out of his hold. He finally was able to elbow him three times and shoved him away; he landed on the jagged beam, the broken wood pointed through his chest, but did nothing to him on account of the magical ring still on his finger. "You tried and you failed. Now that, that's gotta be torture."

When Marcus tried to hit Angel again, he grabbed his hand ripped off the ring. With a scream, the bald headed vamp turned into dust and sprinkled to the ground, mixing in the salt water and wet sand.

Slowly, Angel put the ring on his left middle finger, and hesitantly stepped out from under the pier, his hand held up over his eyes to help shield them from the blinding light. Eventually, he lowered his hand and blinked to get used to the natural lighting. Looking around him in wonder, he marveled at how everything seemed different in the daytime. He glanced down at the ring and wondered how one little piece of jewelry could hold such power.

He walked further along the beach and met the gang in the middle.

Buffy ran into his arms, uncaring that he was soaked to the bone.

"Are you okay," she gently asked him. It then finally sunk in that she was standing in the sunlight with her vampire lover; it was a great feeling.

"I'm fine," he assured her, also reveling in the feeling of being with Buffy outside in the daytime, and then he said to Oz, "Thanks for the help, man. You were key."

Oz nodded. "You're... incredibly pale."

"Look, you should lie down," Cordelia insisted, "We should take you home."

Angel and Buffy started to walk off with smiles on their faces, ignoring whatever Cordy had just said.

Willow stopped her from further ranting, "Just give them a minute."

The couple wandered further on the sandy shore. Buffy stared up at him as he looked around the beach. They suddenly stopped, and her turned to her, pulling her closer in his arms.

He ran a hand through her silky blonde hair that shined bright as gold with the sun beaming down on it.

"You're beautiful," he whispered to her and stared into her sparkly eyes that became a lighter shade of green and blue. He leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on her lips.

From their place on the beach, the gang was starting to get misty eyed from the scene until Oz commented, "He's very pale. Paler than most people."

* * *

On top of the building of Angel Investigations, Angel held Buffy's waist from behind as they enjoyed the sunset together. Doyle came to the roof just as the sun was about to go below the horizon.

"So, how long has it been between sunsets," Buffy asked Angel.

"Two hundred years, give or take."

"Well, you got to be feeling pretty damn good then, huh," Doyle questioned, "I mean, this ring- changes everything, don't it?"

There was a pause and Buffy grinned up at Angel over her shoulder when she saw that he was preoccupied with the setting sun. "Yeah, it's spectacular, I know. But I do promise that there will be another one exactly like it tomorrow."

"Not for me," Angel replied, causing Buffy to spin around with fire in her eyes.

"What?"

"What are you saying," Doyle questioned in shock, "That the city will be hit by a meteor before tomorrow night or..."

"No," Angel said bluntly.

"No," Buffy started to back away from him, "It's to horrible to say the other. I can't even bring myself to say the other."

Angel tried to keep his arms around her. "I'm not going to wear the ring," he said for her.

Buffy shoved him away, "You got a real addiction to the brooding part of life. Anyone ever tell you that?"

"Buffy..."

"Care to explain? I meant this ring is your redemption. It's what you've been waiting for!"

"No, it just looks like it." Angel was really starting to piss her off. Not only was he being his hard headed self, but he was being way to calm about it.

"Angel, man," Doyle came in, "Think about what you're saying!"

"I have, I've thought of it from every angle, and what I figure is I did a lot of damage in my day, more than you can imagine."

"So, what," Buffy yelled, briefly reminded of the time when Angel was about to let the sun take him on Christmas Eve, "you don't get the ring and we don't get to be happy because your period of self-flagellation isn't over yet?"

"Yeah man, think of all the daytime people you could help between nine and five," Doyle added.

"They have help," Angel stated, "The whole world is designed for them, so much that they have no idea what goes around them after dark. They don't see the weak ones lost in the night, or the things that prey on them, And if I join them, maybe I'd stop seeing, too."

Buffy turned away from him, not wanting to hear it and leaned on the ledge of the building, sadly looking over the edge.

"And who'd look out for all the insomniacs?" Doyle started to understand Angel's reasoning.

The stubborn ensouled vampire stepped closer behind Buffy and carefully laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I was brought back for a reason, Buffy, and as much as I would like to kid myself and be with you outside at all hours, I don't think it was for eighteen holes at Rancho."

Buffy let out a sight and watched as the sun set, the first and last one they would share.

"Whatever," she softly dismissed, "Just... do it."

Angel sadly gazed at her back for a few moments. He finally set the ring on the ledge and picked up a brick. Just when he was about to smash the ring, he heard Buffy whimper and sniffle. With his hand still poised to destroy the ring, he stole a glance at Buffy, and saw a tear fall from her face and drip onto the ledge.

He sighed and threw the brick to the side. He couldn't stand the thought of he being the root of her sadness, of her being sad at all. Besides, with he being able to go in the sunlight, he would be able to protect and keep an eye on her when he couldn't have before. He was so whipped.

Not hearing the hard impact of brick against metal and stone, Buffy looked up, and say the unharmed ring and a defeated Angel.

"Angel?"

He sighed, "Just don't let me become so involved in the sunlight that I forget who I really am and what I'm supposed to do."

Buffy beamed; instead of tears of sadness rolling down her cheeks, they were tears of joy. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"I promise," she whispered. She loosened her grip to grab the ring, and gently slipped it back on his finger.

Angel was so ecstatic for putting the look on Buffy's face, that he was glad that his soul was anchored.

Doyle was happy that his friend didn't smash the ring, but being the third wheel made him kind of uncomfortable. "Oh, that Rachel girl with the crazy boyfriend called," he decided to interrupt. The couple was so enraptured with each other that they almost forget he was even there. "Said to say thanks, and that she found a little faith. Said you guys would know what that means."

Angel and Buffy smirked. "I don't know about you, but I had a nice day," Angel said, "You know, except for the bulk of it, where I was nearly tortured to death."

"Yeah, well, you stood up."

"Oh god. I was this close to telling him everything." The three started to head inside, "I mean one more hot poker and I was giving him the ring, his mom, your mom... everything," he then asked Buffy, "How is your mom?"

End

Next installment: "I Fall to Pieces"


	10. I Fall to Pieces pt1

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

"I Fall to Pieces"

Part 1

After a minor struggle with the lock on the door and the text books in her arms, Willow finally managed to open the barrier to her and Buffy's apartment.

She blew away a piece of her red hair that fell in front of her eyes and closed the door with her back. Setting her things on the small dining room table, Willow headed for her bedroom, planning to throw herself on her soft bed for a long-awaited nap.

She only got half way into the living room until she heard a pitiful whine come from the closed door of Buffy's room.

Curious, she switched directions and made her way into the slayer's sanctuary. She softly knocked on the door, hoping that she wasn't interrupting anything between Buffy and her vampire lover.

"Come in," Buffy's slight muffled voice rang.

Willow opened the door and was greeted with the sight of Buffy sitting cross-legged on her bed alone, a text book and a notebook in front of her.

The blonde turned her head towards Willow with a pout on her face.

"Math sucks," Buffy stated, throwing her pencil she was holding on top of her notebook. "Whoever invented Calculus is a demon, and is laughing at us from Hell."

Willow smiled and sat next to Buffy. "I doubt Sir Isaac Newton was a demon."

"Whatever, he's still evil," she let out a sigh and leaned back against the headboard, "I need a break," she looked at Willow with a smile, "So, class was good?"

Willow rolled her eyes and leaned back as Buffy did. "I took so many notes, my hand nearly fell off."

Her blonde friend giggled and nudged Willow with her shoulder, "You don't have to complain for me, Will. Learning for you is like taking a trip to Disneyland. You enjoyed your classes, didn't you?"

Willow tried to pull off her poker face for a moment, but couldn't help but break into a smile. "They were great. My professors were great, the lectures were great, everything was just great."

Buffy laughed again at her friend's excitement, "Great," she returned.

"This week has been the best, and this weekend is going to be even better."

Buffy perked up at Willow's comment. "Oh, that's right! You and Oz are going to San Francisco. When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow, after our classes, since we both don't have any classes on Friday," Willow said happily. She and Oz were taking the trip mainly because the Dingoes had a gig there, but they decided to use it to their advantage and take a mini vacation.

The slayer smiled at her best friend's happiness. "A weekend getaway with your honey, sounds nice."

"Speaking of honeys... I'm surprised Angel's not wherever you are. You two've been attached all week."

"That's because we've come to an agreement that we'd take advantage of the ring this whole week because after this, he's only using it when it's necessary and on special occasions."

"Oh, you must be bummed, huh?"

"Well, yeah, somewhat. I mean, he's on a mission for redemption, and he won't be able to concentrate on that if we're all la-de-da in the sunlight."

"True," Willow agreed, and then glanced back down at Buffy's homework, and grinned sympathetically at her, "I think break time's over."

Again Buffy let out a whine and pouted, muttering under her breath, "Evil."

* * *

The next morning, Buffy skipped into the office, happy that her only class for the day was canceled. She was even happier that it wasn't supernaturally related. Her mood was definite a 180 turn from it was last night.

"Morning," Buffy cheerfully said to Cordelia and Doyle.

"Buffy," Cordelia yelped with the biggest smile on her face. She quickly went from her desk to the slayer and embraced her in a tight hug, to which Buffy was too scared and suspicious to respond to. Once Cordy let go, Buffy's suspicion went up when Cordelia said, "Love the outfit."

"Okay, now I know something's up," Buffy took a step back from the brunette, "What do you want?"

An incredibly false look washed over Cordelia's face, "I don't want anything."

"You complimented my outfit... You want something."

After a moment, Cordelia dropped her act. "Okay, you're right. Who can lie about an outfit that looks like you stole from a thrift store."

The slayer rolled her eyes, unhurt by Cordelia's comment. "Cordelia."

"Okay... We need you to help... remind Angel that this is a business and there are some certain fees to be charged."

"Cordelia, you now that Angel's uncomfortable with charging victims for his help. I don't think I'm comfortable doing that either."

"But, look," the desperate brunette waved the numerous pieces of paper in Buffy's face, "Bills. Bills that are very high and need to be paid."

Buffy sighed, knowing Cordelia was persistent, especially when it came to money.

"Fine, I will talk to Angel, but if he still doesn't want to, then I'm not going to push."

The glee on Cordelia's face wasn't restrained.

"Great," she excitedly said, happy she'll finally see that some green would be put in her wallet for her hard work. "Oh, when you're 'convincing' him, don't be too loud, because noise travels, and I don't wanna waste my paychecks on therapy bills."

Once again, Buffy rolled her eyes at Cordelia's statement. "Cordy, Angel and I haven't-"

"Oh! He's here," Cordelia exclaimed, hearing the elevator door being lifted up, cutting Buffy off, "Now, I know it can be a little hard for you, but try to be sexy."

The slayer glared at her, "Thanks for the tip," she bit out sarcastically. She shook her head and walked into Angel's office; Cordelia and Doyle right behind her.

Angel looked up from his desk, seeming to be a little perplexed, but momentarily was surprised to see his girlfriend in his office.

"Buffy, why are you here? I thought you had a class."

She walked next to him and kissed him on the cheek. "The professor's son has a bad cold, so she canceled, so I just came over to see if you wanted to go out for breakfast."

"Can't. I'm on a case right now. I'm sorry."

"That's okay, this is more important." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cordelia gesturing for her to talk to Angel, but she expertly ignored it, "So, who's the new blonde chick you have to save now."

"Melissa Burns," Doyle answered from his seat in front of the desk next to Cordy, "And surprisingly enough, she's brunette."

Buffy's hazel eyes widened in shock, "A brunette? Well that's new." Cordelia and Doyle nodded their heads in agreement.

"So, how'd it go," the Irish man asked Angel.

The vampire rose from his chair and started to pace. "I scared her."

"Sounds to me like she was scared to begin with."

"Am I intimidating? I mean, do I put people off?"

"Well as vampires go, you're pretty cuddly," Cordelia attempted to appease his worries, "Maybe you might want to think about mixing up the black on black look."

"Maybe one of you should talk to her," he suggested towards the girls, "She'd feel safer."

Just when Buffy was about to agree, Cordelia said, "When she hires us, I'll get involved."

"Cordelia's right," Doyle said.

"I don't think so. I've got a bad feeling that we need to get involved now," he walked back to his desk and leaned forward so his hands were resting on the top, "This shouldn't be about money."

"It's isn't," Buffy continued.

"Yeah, you should listen to...," Cordelia suddenly looked incredulously at Buffy, "It isn't!"

"No, it's about doing what's best for the people you've helped," Angel straightened up at his girlfriend's words, "People get attached to a mysterious savior, and can you blame them? But as long as you're just a man who's doing a job, and getting paid, they can feel like they've paid their debt to you and they can move on, on their merry way, all independent-like."

Cordelia smiled brightly, knowing that Buffy played Angel well and used his fear of getting attached to people outside of their little circle to her advantage. She nudged Doyle with her elbow.

"And she didn't even have to drag him downstairs. Brilliant."

"Hello," a voice rang into the office, and everyone looked at the doorway to see Xander. "Oh, there you guys are. What's going on? Another big case?"

"Angel scared her away with his intimidating, big-foreheaded self," Cordelia filled in, in her own way.

"No worries. Angel always saves the blonde damsel in distress in the end."

"She's a brunette, actually," Buffy told him.

"Wow, a brunette. Maybe next time you'll get to save a man." His eyes widened when he caught everyone staring at him strangely, thinking he sounded a little too eager for the next victim to be a man, "I-I mean 'cause Angel always saves women. It would be nice if a man walked through those doors needing our help," the stares continued, not helping Xander any, "I-I mean-"

The phone suddenly rang, saving Xander from losing what little dignity he had, and Cordelia answered it with the slogan she came up with on her own.

"Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless." As she listened to the voice on the other end, she looked up at Angel, "Well, I'd say right away...," she hung up the phone and announced, "She's coming in."

Angel looked down at his dark ensemble, and remembered what Cordelia suggested earlier. "I've got to change my shirt."

Buffy smirked towards the others at Angel's unusual behavior, as she followed him downstairs to help him out.

Not long after, Melissa sat in front of Angel's desk sipping coffee, while Angel, decked in an off-white sweater Buffy picked out, and the others listened to her story of her stalker intently.

"It's been going on for about seven months now. It wasn't so bad at first."

"What's his name," Buffy questioned her. She felt she was the one that Melissa could relate to the best. After all, Angel did start stalking her when she was fifteen. Even though she didn't know at that time, she unfortunately did remember the time she was stalked by Angelus. For Melissa's sake, she hoped her stalker wasn't as twisted as her love's alter ego.

"Dr. Ronald Meltzer. He's a neurosurgeon. I had an infected nerve behind my right eye. He operated, saved my sight. Afterwards, he asked me out. I didn't really want to, but..."

"He helped you, you felt obligated," Cordelia resumed for her while she jotted down notes on a pad, and Melissa nodded. "Plus, a doctor."

"So we had ONE drink, ONE time... and afterwards he started calling me, a lot. Then he started showing up at my work, my apartment, saying that we had something special, that we should get married."

"And then it got worse," Angel joined in the questioning.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I can feel him watching me... all the time. Today at work, he knew I took my Xanitab when I was alone in the bathroom. I mean, how did he see that? He is just everywhere. I don't think I can take much more of this."

"Well, we're going to help you," he reassured her.

"Big time," Cordy rang in, and then added, "and for a reasonable fee." She got a look from Angel and she ducked her head under his gaze.

"Doyle will make sure that you get home safely," Buffy told Melissa.

"Thanks," the frightened woman said, "You guys have been very kind, listening to me," she took one last sip of the coffee and set it on the desk, "It's terrible," she stated, a sad look on her face.

"Yeah, we're going to take care of that," Doyle consoled her.

Melissa rose from her seat, "No, I meant the coffee." Before she reached the door, she turned around and gazed inquisitively at Angel, "Angel, how did you know that I needed help?"

The vampire paused for a moment, quickly thinking of an excuse, "I have a friend in the police department," he answered quite smoothly.

As Doyle followed Melissa out, he eyed the group, "I'll see you guys later."

As soon as they left, Cordy began her rant. "Can you imagine? A doctor- they examine your body- they know every inch of you... ugh," she exchanged glances with Xander, and they simultaneously shuddered, while Buffy's face scrunched up in disgust. Angel completely ignored the comment and was deep in thought, as usual.

"How is he doing it," he wondered out loud, pacing once again, "How does he see her when she's alone, in private? Is he invisible? Or some kind of ghost? Maybe he can astral project."

"Maybe he has an accomplice, or a hidden camera. Not everything has to be creepy and supernatural, you know."

"Not everything, but Doyle had a vision," Buffy pointed out.

"Which last time led to a sex-changing-body-switching-tear-your-innards-out-demon, right," Xander said, "I guess they don't call you for their everyday cases."

Angel sat down in his chair, searching hard for a solution. "He sees her when he is nowhere around. How?" He looked up at Buffy with his brows furrowed and his lips tightly pressed in a thin line, and she just stared back at him, equally stumped.

Xander and Cordelia went to exit Angel's office to go to her desk, when Cordy looked down at her own body and said to herself, "Okay, flesh, anytime you want to stop crawling is okay with me."

* * *

After concluding that they were officially stumped, Angel suggested to get more information from a reliable source. Much to Buffy's dismay, that reliable source was Kate. There was no doubt that she had a crush on her boyfriend. Buffy knew that Kate was a decent woman with impeccable taste in men, but she couldn't help the primitive slayer inside of her to be possessive of what was hers. Which was why she insisted on tagging along to the police department.

"Hello Kate," Angel greeted her when the walked up to her desk.

Kate rose from her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, looking a bit flustered in Angel's presence.

"Angel...um, hi... It's good to see you."

"You too," he replied, and Buffy stepped to the side so Angel's huge form wasn't blocking her and she could be noticed.

"Hi Kate," Buffy said and offered a small smile when the older blonde finally noticed her.

"Buffy. Hi, almost didn't notice you."

"Almost," she agreed with barely noticeable bitter undertones.

Despite the noises of the busy police department, there was an awkward silence amongst the three. Kate decided to be the one to break the ice.

"So judging by your uncomfortableness, I'd say you're either about to ask me out on a date, or you need a favor," she attempted to joke. Angel just stared at her, while Buffy refrained herself from an embarrassing outburst. Even though she knew Kate was joking, she sounded a little too hopeful.

"And seeing as you have a girlfriend who's standing right in front of me," she continued, "I'm going to go with favor," the detective sat back behind her desk and gestured for Buffy and Angel to sit in the chairs in front of her, "so ask, and I'll see if I can do."

The two took up her offer and sat down.

"Girl," Angel began, getting right to the point, "a client. She's being stalked, and I think it could get ugly."

"She's being stalked? Then ugly it already it is. What's her name?"

* * *

"You know, you two really don't have to stay with me all day," Melissa said to Doyle and Xander, who were escorting her around her office.

"Protect and serve," Doyle stated, ""It's entirely our bag."

"Plus, this just gives me a good reason to miss class," Xander half joked.

"We're not in the way are we?"

"Oh no. I like it," she insisted, "As long as you guys aren't bored."

"No, no. We're good. We've got cards and a word jumble to keep us occupied, sadly, for most of the day."

They reached her desk, and Melissa sat down. "I do feel better having you all on the case. I guess Angel has handled a lot of cases like this."

"Oh yeah," Xander said, hopefully convincingly, "Dozens."

"Hundreds," Doyle added, "Dozens of hundreds."

Melissa's eyes bugged out of her head. "Wow, it happens that often?"

Doyle shifted on his feet and answered awkwardly, "Well, exactly like yours? Not quite so many. But protecting young women such as yourself? Yeah, there've been- ah- four. And three of them are very much alive." Melissa stared at him with a mix of shock and worry. She shifted her gaze to Xander who looked like a deer caught in headlights, but forced a smile on his face.

"Is that you," Doyle tried to save himself by quickly pointing at a picture on her desk. It was of her in the sky with a genuine smile on that most likely hasn't graced her face since Ronald came into her life.

A hint of that smile appeared and she nodded, "Ah, yeah. Bungee jumping."

Doyle picked up the picture and Xander looked over his shoulder to see.

"I've always meant to do that, but I intensely don't want to, so I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"It's fun. Scary."

Doyle put the picture back and sat down with Xander. "You don't seem like the thrill seeker type."

Melissa looked at the picture wistfully. "Well I used to... you know, I used to do a lot of things... before..."

"Don't you worry," Xander attempted to assure her, "When Angel's finished with this case, I guarantee you'll be wanting to jump off a bridge again."

* * *

For a few minutes, Kate had left her visitors to retrieve a file on Melissa.

"Your girl did file a report two months ago," Kate informed them when she came back, "the doctor responded and denied everything. A lot of noise from his lawyers." Sifting through the paper work in the manila folder, she visibly winced when she saw who actually represented the doctor. "Ouch..."

"What," Buffy questioned curiously.

"His lawyers. Wolfram and Hart. You know the name?"

Angel gave Buffy a sidelong glance. "I've heard it." He remembered the lawyer from the firm that he ran into before letting the entrepreneur vampire, Russell, into the light, so to speak. He figured that the firm knew all about Russell's condition after the lawyer's less than shocked reaction to Russell's way of death. After the encounter, Angel made Willow look up the firm on the internet, and she found that Wolfram and Hart took in both humans and all supernatural beings and always won a case no matter how evil their client was.

"Yeah. They're the law firm that Johnny Cochran is too ethical to join. They actually filed a restraining order against HER. Very cute. Still no record of violence for the doctor."

"Yet."

Kate looked back up at Angel. "You think he's going to blow?"

"I do."

"I'll put a uniform on her building. But I can probably not spare one more for more than a day or two."

"Thanks. That'll help."

"And your client, she's holding up?"

"She's scared," Buffy answered, "He's had her on the ropes for a while now."

"Then you better help her get mad, because that is the only way she'll be able to fight him."

"Well hopefully we'll be doing all the fighting," declared Angel, "That's why she hired us."

"That's not what I mean. This guy could go to jail tomorrow and still kill her in her dreams every night. I've put a few of these creeps away and the hardest thing is to know that he is still winning. She's still afraid. He took her power away and no one can get it back for her but her."

Buffy and Angel looked at each other, realizing the truth to Kate's words. After they thanked Kate, they left the building through the underground parking lot.

While in the car, Angel announced that he was going to go to Ronald's office to do some recon work alone. Fortunately, there was little protest from Buffy. She told him she was going to take Cordelia with her to the hospital to find out more about the doctor from outside resources.

After dropping his girlfriend off at the office, Angel found himself walking down the hallway of the expensive clinic Ronald worked at. Finding his office marked "Private", he slipped into the empty room and started to snoop around. During his investigating, he came upon a framed picture of Melissa on his desk; Ronald was obviously obsessed. Knowing from experience, the guy would go through any lengths to get what he wants, and unfortunately for him, Angel was there to make sure he didn't reach his goal.

Suddenly hearing voices, Angel silently crept up to a connecting door that was open only a crack. He peeked through and saw Ronald consulting with a patient.

Stepping away from the door, he made his way over to the bookshelf, which held quite a collection of human anatomy models. Skimming the many rows of books, Angel came across one titled "Anything is Possible." His interest peaked, and he pulled it out and opened it. On the inside of the books, a personal message was written to the doctor from the author, reading, "To Ronald: Thanks for having the 'nerve' to believe. Fondly, Vin."

From behind Angel, the connecting door from the examination room opened and Ronald walked in.

"What are you doing in my office," he angrily questioned Angel.

With his back still to Ronald, Angel stealthily slipped the useful book into his jacket. As he turned around, he swiftly pulled out a business card he had made before he got there from the same pocket, and handed it to Dr. Meltzer.

"Name's Jensen," he pulled off with his perfect poker face, "I need to talk to you."

Ronald quickly scanned the card with little interest. "Then you make an appointment. You don't just barge in her."

"I don't have time for appointments. I'm told that you can do things no one else can."

"You'll never find out," he pushed passed Angel and picked up his phone, "I'm calling security."

Ignoring his threat, Angel walked around him to stand in front of the desk while saying, "My wife has a malignant tumor that's pressing on her ocular cavity. She's going to die unless someone has the nerve to operate."

Ronald hung up the phone, intrigued by what Angel said. "What you are talking about is a very difficult and dangerous procedure. I could lose my license. Now, I understand your situation, but I can't help you."

Retaining the role of a desperate, lovesick man, Angel grabbed the picture of Melissa.

"What does she mean to you?"

Ronald seemed to be caught off guard, "What?"

"What is she, your wife, your girlfriend? What?"

The doctor straightened up and tried to look sincere. "She's my fiancé," he stated, causing Angel to realize how deluded this guy really was.

"Nice. Set a date?"

"Uh-ah- we're working on that," he faltered, trying to maintain his cool, but Angel could see straight through it. Even if he didn't know the truth, he could still sense he was lying.

"Did you know right away? That she was the one?"

"I don't see how this has anything..."

"I'll tell you how. Do you know what it's like to be so much apart of someone that you don't know where they end and you begin," Angel held up Melissa's picture again, "Would you die for her?"

"Yes."

"Then you understand that I'm not willing to make any compromises. I'm not willing watch her suffer and die while the law catches up with science. What I'm willing to do is pay you whatever it takes. Think about it... Please."

* * *

Later on in the day, Angel, Buffy, and Cordelia were gathered in Angel's office. The vampire sat in front of the computer, and put good use to the skills he had learned from Willow. Buffy had pulled up a chair and sat next to him, amazed that Angel was better at using the computer than she was, when he could barely figure out how to use his cell phone. While the couple sat side by side, Cordelia paced the small space out of habit.

The girls had come back from the Good Samaritan Hospital, after posing as reporters for a health magazine that neither girl could pronounce, and dishing some information about Ronald from a nurse on the staff.

What they found out was that he was greedy and secretive with his work. The only positive thing that the nurse had to say about him was that he was one of the best at reattaching severed nerves. They also learned that a lot of his work was "pretty radical."

"He reattaches eyes for one thing," Buffy told Angel when he asked for details, "Apparently, this guy can do anything with a knife. You really don't want this guy fixated on you."

Cordelia stopped her pacing and went to stand on the other side of Angel. "What is stalking nowadays... the third most popular sport among men?"

"Fourth, after Luge," Angel joked dryly, his focus still on the computer in front of him.

Buffy smiled adoringly at her boyfriend's sense of humor, and affectionately rubbed his tense upper back and rested her blonde head on his shoulder.

"I don't get it," Cordelia said, "This guy has a lot to lose. What is it about Melissa that got him to go all O.J. on her?"

"Nothing," Angel answered, "It's not about Melissa, it's about rage. This guy is too messed up to deal with a real woman and he can't stand that. So he created a fantasy about a girl he barely knows. But eventually even she fails him. So he has to hurt her, because when he looks at her all he sees is how useless he is, how damaged..."

"Ugh, what a fun date you must have been in your bad vamp days," Cordy interrupted him sarcastically, and sat down in another chair, "On the other hand, it should give you some insight into the jerks of the world."

Angel took a brief break from the computer to lean back in his chair and ran one hand frustratingly through his hair and took Buffy's hand with the other.

"I know how this guy thinks, I just don't knowhow he's doing it."

Buffy picked up her head from Angel's shoulder, "Being everywhere at once?"

Angel showed the book he stole from Ronald to the girls. "Vinpur Natpudan says that we are everywhere at once since we are all made up of the same molecules."

"I remember that guy," Buffy said when she saw the picture of the author on the back, "He made a big noise on public television."

"Oh yeah. He had a big case of Joe Recluse after, right," Cordelia added.

Angel looked at the computer again, "What he had was a nervous breakdown. Not long after he conducted an exclusive retreat for a group of well known yogis and doctors."

"I'm guessing Dr. Stalker was at the retreat," Buffy rhetorically asked. She looked at the screen her boyfriend was focused on, "What are you doing?"

The vampire was in his e-mail account that Cordelia insisted he have for the company, typing up a new letter.

"Sending Joe Recluse an e-mail," Angel responded, "I'd really like to talk to him."

Cordy stood up from her chair to look over his shoulder and started to read what he typed out loud. "I hope you have the 'nerve' to believe that I need help with Ronald Meltzer," she glanced down at the book and read the hand-written dedication, "Hope you have he 'nerve' to believe- did you steal this book?"

Angel spared her a side long glance before answering, "Yeah," without any guilt.

"Good."

* * *

It didn't take long for Vinpur to respond to Angel's e-mail, because that same night, Angel and Buffy sat across from the author in his dark room. Buffy took a look around from her seat. The room had a gothic feel to it, and she briefly wondered if he decorated it like this before or after his breakdown. After the thought, Buffy concluded that she spent too much time with Cordelia.

"You said in your e-mail that Dr. Meltzer might hurt an innocent woman," Vinpur stated, then asked, "What is it that you think I can do about that?"

"Help me understand him better. I don't think he's like other people," Angel said.

"No he's not," Vinpur agreed, "Of course no two people are alike. God in his infinite variety and wisdom like to keep it interesting."

"That's nice. How did you meet him," Buffy asked a little impatiently.

"He came to one of my lectures. My operating thesis at the time was that the mind is the single most powerful force in the universe. In any average human it regulates billions of cells, and that is with eighty percent of the brain still untapped."

"So what are the possibilities if a person could master all that power," Angel took over the questioning.

"I introduced Dr. Meltzer to psychic surgeons," Buffy and Angel listened intently, "Yogis that can shut down their somatic system for days at a time. But he eclipsed us all. Until Dr. Meltzer, my studies had been based on theories and hearsay, but he exploded that all. That's when I stopped teaching."

"Because you stopped believing."

"No, because I began to believe- completely."

Angel and Buffy exchanged glances as realization washed over them, and everything became clear. She didn't know if it was from attending college or from listening to Giles explain things with many complicated words, but Buffy was surprised that she actually got it. To be on the safe side, she decided to verify if she was right.

"So let me get this straight. You're telling me that Dr. Meltzer can detach any part of his body and then control it with his mind?"

Vinpur nodded. "Yes."

She visibly shuddered and uttered, "Ew."

TBC...


	11. I Fall to Pieces pt2

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"

By: Lynn

DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!

DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!

SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

Part 2

After the visit to Vinpur's home, Buffy and Angel decided to check on Melissa. Kate may have sent an officer to guard her property, but the two warriors were more lethal than any of the guns that the police officers carried.

As they got out of Angel's car and started to walk to Melissa's door, they were suddenly in high alert when a high pitched scream pierced the quiet night. Immediately, they used their supernatural speed to get to Melissa as fast as they could.

When they got there, Melissa was hysterically running out of her home in her black nightie. Only focused on trying to escape, Melissa didn't notice Buffy and Angel, and ran straight into Angel. She frantically tried to get away, too scared to figure out it was her savior.

Angel grasped her shoulders to help calm her down. "It's me. It's me and Buffy," he gently reassured her.

"He's- he's in there. His- his hands...," Melissa gasped, overwhelmed with fear. After Xander and Doyle dropped her off, her feeling of safety was creeping slowly back into her life. The feeling up and left as soon as she got into bed, and oddly felt something groping her underneath the sheets. What she found was a pair of hands without a body attached to them. An officer had come running to her aid when she let out a loud scream. The slightly overweight cop searched her room and found nothing to cause her to scream, and assumed her to just be having a bad dream, The man met an awful fate when the floating hands wrapped around his neck and choked him to death.

"We know," Buffy comforted her by laying a hand on her back, "We know what he can do."

"He killed a... Please don't leave me alone! Please don't leave me alone! Please don't leave me!"

"It's alright. It's alright," Angel soothed her when she buried her face against his chest and cried, "Buffy and I won't let him near you. Shh..."

As Buffy and Angel tried to calm down the hysterical brunette, they didn't notice Ronald watching angrily on the other side of the fence that surrounded the house. His dismembered hand crawled to him and up his leg, and reattached itself to the end of his arm. Before walking away, Ronald took one last look at the object of his obsession in the arms of the man who claimed to be Mr. Jensen and decided to eliminate the lying son of a bitch that got in between him and Melissa.

* * *

After a call on Buffy's cell phone, an ambulance and a gaggle of police surrounded the area. Melissa was wrapped in a blanket with Doyle, Xander, and an EMT at her aid.

When other EMT's rolled the murdered officer's dead and bagged body out of the house, Doyle quickly turned Melissa's back toward it so she wouldn't see, and Xander shoved a styrofoam cup filled with coffee in her shaky hands.

"Here drink up, Love," Doyle gently ordered, "It's over."

Amongst all the cops there, one of them was, of course, Kate.

"She is not making a lot of sense," Kate said to Angel and Buffy.

"She's been living in terror for the last five months," Buffy retorted.

"You two think it's the doctor."

"We know it's the doctor," Angel said.

Kate put her hands on her hips."Well, how could he do it? I mean, she's got bars on her windows. The security cameras in the hallway show our officers going in and nobody suspicious all day. I mean, who is his guy, Houdini?"

Buffy and Angel shared a secretive look before Buffy answered the rhetorical question, "Something like that."

"I've pulled prints. If they match his, he's going down."

Matching frowns dawned both of the couple's faces, knowing that putting him in jail won't be enough to keep Ronald from Melissa.

"Detective," someone called, distracting Kate from Angel and Buffy, "Can you sign the coroners release?"

Kate separated from the two to do her job, and Angel and Buffy started to walk towards Doyle, Xander, and Melissa. Doyle saw them approaching and met them in the middle, Xander following him, and leaving Melissa with the EMT.

"How's she doing," Buffy asked with concern.

"Numb," Doyle answered, "Did they get any prints?"

"Yeah," Angel said.

"Good. So we can put him behind bars... for about ninety seconds, until he skitters through 'em," Doyle shook his head in disgust, "Not a lot of things that make me shudder, but this guy- crawling around under the covers..."

"At least it was just his hands down there," Xander added, but then paused, the idea of it making him, Doyle, and Buffy even more creeped out, "Wish I hadn't even thought that."

"He's coming undone," Angel stated.

"I'll say," Doyle returned.

"No, I mean he's out of control. He's killing now."

"Anyone that comes between him and his obsession," Doyle agreed, glancing at a still shaken Melissa.

"Wait a minute," Xander said, his eyes a bit wide, "Don't we stand between him and his obsession?"

Doyle looked just as spooked as Xander, which eased his male ego a bit. "I'm not putting too cowardly a point on it," Doyle said, "but if this guy can't be contained and he can't be killed, what are we going to do about it?"

"If his body parts go long enough without any blood and oxygen, they're going to deteriorate," Angel said thoughtfully, "he's not gonna be able to put himself back together no matter how much psychic surgery he knows."

"So what you're saying is to break him down and box him up," Buffy interpreted.

"Of course that's just a theory."

"Hmm. What do we do in the mean time," Xander asked.

Looking over at Melissa, Angel simply said, "Protect her."

* * *

Later on, they took Melissa to Angel's apartment. As a precautionary, the guys took duct tape and sealed off all the places the doctor could wiggle through to get to their client.

"It's not good for the ventilation," Xander stated while sealing a vent, "but he's not getting in here." Cordelia, who stood directly behind him, touched his shirt collar, causing him to jump from paranoia and wave his arms in the air as if swatting a bee. "Don't do that," he snapped at her when he realized it was just her and regained his composure.

"I was just trying to fix your collar," Cordelia defended herself, glaring back at her ex-boyfriend.

"Yeah, well, what say we just leave it crooked until this thing's resolved."

Cordelia silently agreed, and the two of them walked to Angel's small kitchen where Angel, Buffy, and Doyle sat with Melissa, who was now wearing one of Angel's over-sized black shirts and sipping tea.

"I don't see how this can...," Melissa stumbled, "I mean, this can't be happening. What I saw- you think I must be crazy."

"No," Buffy gently insisted, "We believe you."

"But it's not possible. I mean, he can really..."

Angel nodded. "Yes... Remember I told you I sometimes handle things the police can't," Melissa nodded in recollection from when she first met the dark vampire, "This is one of those things. I'm going to take care of him. Buffy, Doyle, Cordelia, and Xander are going to stay here with you. I want you to try to get some rest."

Cordelia grabbed a tissue, and offered it to Melissa, but she refused.

"Thanks, but I'm not going to cry anymore. At least I hope not. I'm tired of crying and being afraid," she declared bravely, but with a shaky voice.

"You don't have to be afraid," Buffy said gently.

"You're just duct taping me in for fun," she shot back. Xander uncomfortably cleared his throat, and tried to shove the roll of duct tape he was holding into Cordy's unwilling hands.

"You've survived a living hell these last few months and you're still standing," Angel encouraged her, "while he's coming unhinged at not being able to control you. He's the weak one. You're the strong one."

"You should listen to him, Melissa," Cordy rang in, "He knows what he's talking about. He's stalked plenty of," Melissa stared at her while Angel and Buffy shot her a glare, "... books on the subject," she amended, then turned to Angel, "Could I see you upstairs for a moment?"

Angel and Buffy excused themselves and left Melissa with Doyle and Xander.

"Okay, Melissa stays here with us, that makes sense," Cordelia said while they rode up the elevator to the office, "but the part about you taking care of the doctor... This guy is REALLY dangerous. Right Buffy? Tell him this guy is dangerous."

The blonde slayer just ignored her and shook her head. Although she knew that Cordelia was right, she had to respect Angel's wishes... No matter how much it bugged her.

Angel opened up the elevator and walked straight to his desk to flip through the yellow pages.

"What are you doing," Cordelia questioned.

"Seeing where I can get some steel boxes at this hour of the night."

"Steel boxes," Cordelia looked perplexed, "Why would you want... Oh. For packing up people parts," she headed out of Angel's office to her desk, "You know this job... Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have it. God knows it's educational, but sometimes...," she jumped in surprise when the phone rang. "God, who's calling at this-," she looked down at the phone and saw the button for line three blinking, "It's the special line."

Angel and Buffy gazed at her through the window that separated them. They knew who exactly who it was.

"Answer it," Buffy ordered.

"Right, right. Okay. Now, who are we again? Johnson International Holdings?"

"Jensen," Angel corrected her, still thumbing through the pages.

"Jensen. Good, got it," the phone continued to ring as she suddenly trailed off and kept on babbling. "Jensen, now does that sound like an international name?"

"Cordelia," Buffy snapped.

Finally, Cordelia ended the ringing and picked up the phone, using her friendly secretary voice. "Jensen International Holdings. How may I direct your call?... Please hold," she pressed the button to put him on hold and said to Angel, "It's him."

Angel glanced at Buffy and took a deep breath before picking up his own phone.

"Brian Jensen," Angel said, sitting in his leather chair.

"You're working late," Ronald commented from the other end of the line.

"Downside of being global."

"If you still want me to, I'll operate on your wife."

"I do, thank you."

"We'll have to do it out of the country, and I need a hundred thousand dollars in cash to get things rolling."

"Are you in your office?"

"Yes."

"I'll bring it to you tonight." Angel hung up the phone and caught the worried look in Buffy's blue-green eyes.

"You're going over there," she asked softly, and he nodded.

"What if he comes apart on you," Cordelia added.

"If he comes apart on me, he's going to stay that way." Angel stood up out of his chair.

"Angel, are you sure you want to do this alone," Buffy inquired, "I've got a bad feeling."

He cupped his slayer's cheek comfortingly, "Don't worry. I'll be fine," he stated, which did nothing to appease her bad vibe, "Stay and protect Melissa. I've got an appointment with a doctor."

Buffy smirked despite her feelings, "Clever."

"Always am."

* * *

Later that night, Angel entered Ronald's office carrying a long, steel box.

"That's a big box," Ronald said to Angel, "You didn't have to bring it in small bills Mr. Jensen."

Angel came up to the desk and placed the box on top of it. "Actually, I didn't bring-"

"Any money at all," the doctor concluded for him, unsurprised, and Angel stared back with an unreadable face, "No, I didn't think you would. Though the safety box is a nice touch. I mean your name is not really Jensen. You don't have a wife. Unless, that blonde girl I saw you with is your wife, but she looked too healthy to have a tumor. What a tangled web, eh?"

Ronald placed his left hand on the desk, causing Angel's attention to steer towards it, expecting it to disconnect from his body.

Within that second he was distracted, Ronald pulled out a long, silver device with his right hand and shot a tranquilizer dart out of it and into Angel's neck.

"I developed this injector while working with animals, Ronald informed Angel. The vampire pulled the dart out of his neck and looked at it, the object almost immediately slipped out of his fingers. "They don't like their limbs cut off any more than we do and they can hurt you if you get too close."

Angel felt the poison flow through the blood that he recently drank, making him a little dizzy. Angel cursed the doctor, knowing that if he were human, the injection would kill him. Lucky for him, the toxin wasn't as effective as the stuff that he was shot with before the Ascension, seeing as how it was supposed to be used for the living, but he knew it would be powerful enough to knock him out. Angel was suddenly glad that Buffy agreed to stay behind and help protect Melissa.

"You'll feel a slight sinking sensation," Ronald continued, "that's your heart slowing down as the paralytic takes effect. Eventually it'll stop all together," he stood up, "I just can't believe the audacity- to think you could take her from me?"

Angel felt his body getting heavier and he sank to his knees.

"I saw you. I saw you hold her. Even with your... whore there," Angel dropped to all fours, he broke out into a cold sweat, and his body shook, "Nobody can break the bond between us. Nobody." Ronald picked up a scalpel from his desk and peered at it intently, "Clearly even she can't accept that. I've tried so hard to show her in so many ways. I've taken care of her, been there for her, even when she didn't know it." Angel rolled onto his back and his body twitched. Through his ears, Ronald's voice became distorted.

"If that isn't devotion... And what do I get for my trouble? She lies, she cheats. But no more. I won't be made a fool of. She would've made a beautiful bride."

As Angel finally collapsed and passed out, Ronald left, leaving the vampire in the middle of his floor, like a forgotten piece of paper that floated off his desk.

* * *

Pulling her jacket around her tighter, Buffy paced in front of Angel's office building, keeping watch for the demented doctor and patrolling for the evil creatures of the night at the same time. Though, sometimes, it was hard to decipher whether or not the things that came out at night were evil; L.A. was different from Sunnydale. As soon as the sun set, the demons roamed the streets freely as if they were humans, too. The mortals didn't even give the weird looking beings a second thought, figuring since it was just Hollywood, and that the demons were probably actors that just came from a set, or they were just used to seeing freaky looking things, living in L.A. All they needed was a hat and a coat, and they were a part of the crowd.

Suddenly, Buffy's Slayer senses went off when a high pitch scream came from an alley a little down the street, driving her away from her thoughts. She hesitated for a second when she looked back at the building which housed Melissa, feeling a little guilty for leaving her post. The screams continued and the slayer shook it off and ran to the other person in need, figuring that the slaying wouldn't take but a minute. As she took off, she missed Ronald emerge from the dark shadows and slip into the building.

When Buffy reached the alley in the matter of seconds, she found a scantily clad red headed woman struggling with a male vampire. His fangs were just a hairbreadth away from the rub-on tanned skin of her neck when Buffy decided to interrupt.

"Hi," Buffy greeted, her voice sounding overly cheery, "What's going on?"

"Beat it," the vampire snarled at her, "This is none of your business."

"Help me," the frightened woman whimpered but was silenced when the vampire tightened his hand around her neck and gave her body a little jerk to shut her up, an animalistic growl erupted from his throat.

"Actually it is my business," Buffy stated matter-of-factly, stepping further into the alley, "You bite," she pulled out Mr. Pointy from the waistband of her pants, "I slay. Any questions?"

The vamp dropped the girl harshly and lunged for the ready slayer. The fight was short-lived when the only hit the vampire got was one punch across Buffy's face, but she was unaffected. She hit him a few more times for fun and shoved him against the wall, and drove Mr. Pointy straight into his heart, rendering him to dust.

Buffy tucked the stake back into her waistband and turned to the girl, who still sat on the dirty asphalt floor of the alleyway in shock. Before Buffy could get out a word, the scared redhead stumbled to her feet, and darted away from the dark area.

The blonde stepped out of the alley and watched the girl run away. "Your welcome," she yelled after her.

The sound of squealing tires caused Buffy to turn her head. She saw Angel's black convertible barreling and swerving down the road. When Angel reached his destination, he ungracefully parked the car in his hurry, the right front tire of the car was propped up onto the sidewalk in front of the building.

Buffy was instantly next to him when he got out of the car.

"Buffy, we have to hurry. Ronald's going after Melissa. He shot me with a dart, it was meant to kill me, but it just knocked me unconscious," Angel hurriedly explained while they quickly marched towards his apartment.

"Are you okay," she asked with concern, keeping pace with him.

"Fine. Just a little dizzy."

"Good. Let's kill this bastard."

* * *

Standing next to the sleeping Melissa, Cordelia worriedly glanced at her watch. Buffy was still on patrol, and Angel was still on his mission to reassemble Dr. Meltzer. Her thoughts momentarily strayed to a couple years back when Buffy blew up the reassembled/invincible demon, The Judge, and they had to gather all the parts themselves. Hopefully, it wouldn't have to resort to them touching the still twitching parts of Ronald.

"What if Angel and Buffy don't come back," she questioned Doyle who was on the floor adding more duct tape to the cracks he missed, while Xander stood over him, supervising.

"Ah, they'll be back."

"What if Dr. Chopped Salad shows up before they do?"

Xander ripped off another piece of duct tape and handed it to the half-demon.

"Xander and I have this place sewed up tighter than...," Doyle's reassurance was cut short when they heard a rattling noise.

"What was that," Cordelia wondered out loud.

Doyle rose from the floor and slowly walked over towards the living room, Xander and Cordy right on his heels.

Xander pulled two weapons free from the brick wall that Angel had so conveniently displayed, and handed one to Doyle and one to Cordelia, and then pulled off another for himself.

"Just the wind," he stated, but all three of them looked around warily.

Cautiously, they separated into different parts of the sealed apartment. Xander backed up into the bedroom, Cordelia slowly traveled to the kitchen, while Doyle moved further into the living room.

"So you want to play some cards, or do you want to watch the tube," Doyle asked the other two casually, but all three were scanning the room for any body parts skittering around with their weapons raised.

"Sure," Cordelia replied just as casually, "how about some- gin? Penny a point? You in Xander?"

"I'm not really into gin, more of a poker man myself."

As he glanced around the room, and made sure Melissa was safe, he totally missed the dismembered eye floating around the pipes.

"Yeah," Doyle responded, "You'll owe me money."

"We'll see about that."

The rattling noise started up again, and Doyle walked nervously towards the sounds. Walking further into the room and gazing down, he found the trap door Angel used to get to the sewers trying to be opened.

"Guys," Doyle called out. Two fingers came up through the hole in the little metal door, trying to push the bolt that held the door closed.

Behind Xander, who was still in the room, Ronald silently stepped through the door and let his floating back into his empty socket.

Before the unsuspecting Scooby could join the other two, Ronald hit the back of his head with a hard object in his only hand and knocked Xander unconscious. The doctor caught him before he could hit the floor and make a sound and then swiftly threw him out the door he came through.

Too distracted by the hand trying to enter through the trap door, Cordelia and Doyle didn't even notice the missing Xander. They watched as the fingers pushed the bolt through and then disappear back into the confines of the sewer.

Doyle carefully crouched down next to the trap door , the hatchet he was holding raised slightly, ready to be put to good use. He flicked the latch back and opened the door, expecting to get attacked by some sort of limb of Ronald's, but found only darkness. He furrowed his brow and lowered his weapon, wondering why nothing had popped out of the tunnel below.

Suddenly, the hand that was there before reappeared and grabbed Doyle, pulling him head first into the tunnel, the trap door closing shut behind him.

At the same time, Ronald put his other hand over Cordelia's moth from behind and pulled her into the room. He effectively slammed her against the wall and threw her out the door with Xander.

Ronald shut the metal door, and turned to see that Melissa had woken from her slumber and was sitting at the edge of the bed, watching him with wide eyes.

The doctor kept his own eyes on Melissa as the hand he used to trap Doyle, obediently crawled to him and reattached itself to his arm.

"Hi," Ronald said casually as he readjusted his tie, "Getting some rest?"

"I- what are you?"

"I'm more than meets the eye. But you never bothered to find out, did you? You just took advantage of my kindness," he pulled the scalpel he brought from his office out of his jacket, and started to walk towards Melissa, "Led me on until you could find yourself a vacuous LA pretty boy."

Obviously scared, Melissa tried to run pass him but Ronald cut her off and cornered up against the wall.

"I'm very disappointed in you Melissa."

Melissa stared at the scalpel he held dangerously in his hand. "I know- I didn't mean..."

"No, no, no. No. Stop now. You're babbling."

"I think," she gulped, "I think you disappoint yourself." She didn't know what was happening, but she felt her confidence building within herself. "I think you gave up on being loved a long time ago and now you're just another creep who gets off on pain."

"Now don't try your little childish-"

"I think you know that I would be crazy to want to touch you, to wake up next to little pieces of whatever you are," Melissa ranted on, looking upon him with disgust, finally able to fight back.

"Shut up," Ronald retorted, visibly wounded by her words.

"You turned yourself into a freak, Ronald, a vile, repulsive freak. And I'm done being afraid of you. You can cut me and you can kill me, but it still won't change what you are." As Melissa was talking, something happened within Ronald and his neck bulged and moved as if something was trying to get out of his throat. Her rise of confidence was effecting him mentally, and he was struggling to keep himself together, both body and mind. "Angel was right. You're weak!"

"I'm weak," he hissed, "then how was it I killed him?"

The door behind him slid open, "Inefficiently," Angel's voice rumbled.

Ronald quickly turned around and saw Angel and Buffy standing in the doorway.

"You can't be alive," he exclaimed, shocked, "You- you're not human."

Melissa backed away from the insane doctor and strongly replied with, "You should talk!"

Angrily, Ronald spun towards Angel again and his teeth flew out of his mouth as if he wore dentures, and lunged towards the vampire. Buffy quickly interfered and the teeth clamped on her arm instead. The slayer cried out in pain and disgust and retaliated by smashing the set of teeth against a wall, causing Ronald to clamp his hand over his mouth in pain.

As Angel advanced on him, Ronald slammed the scalpel into his shoulder to prevent him from getting any further, but it failed because Angel came at him again.

This time, Ronald threw his right hand at him, and it gripped Angel's throat, slamming him into Buffy and they both fell back hard to the floor.

When the doctor turned back toward Melissa, Angel ripped the hand off and threw it away from him. The hand came skittering back, and remembering that he still had the scalpel in his shoulder, he pulled it out and stabbed it to the ground.

Ronald sadly looked at Melissa, knowing he had finally been defeated. "We could have been so happy," he lisped around his toothless mouth, and then one of his ears fell off.

"Ronald," Buffy growled, getting the decaying doctor's attention. As he turned around, Buffy hit his head with a pipe, sending it flying across the room.

"That was for poisoning my boyfriend and potentially giving me rabies ," Buffy said to the fallen, decapitated body in front of her.

Angel briefly stroked her back before stepping up to Melissa. "Are you alright," he gently asked.

Her response was just a gasp, as she was still in shock, and being the noble hero, Angel held her carefully to soothe her.

* * *

The next morning, everything seemed brighter. Melissa was now stalker-free, Angel and Buffy saved another life, and Cordelia was just happy that they were getting money.

Playing her part as helpful secretary, Cordelia began her task to make some coffee.

"Oh, goody," she chirped, seeing a used filter already in the machine, "recycled coffee, my personal favorite." She added some fresh grounds to the old filter and started up the machine.

"That's disgusting, Cordy," Xander commented over her shoulder.

"What," she shrugged innocently, to which Xander just shook his head and sat in a chair.

Angel and Buffy came from the other office and the vampire handed Cordelia some papers.

"Oh. That guy's never going to put himself back together, right," Cordelia asked.

"He's in twelve steel boxes, buried in twenty cubic feet of concrete in the floor of LA's newest subway station," Angel replied blandly.

"That ought to bring tourists," Doyle joked, earning a laugh from Xander and Buffy.

The door opened then, and a happier looking Melissa walked in carrying a potted plant.

"Hey," she greeted with a genuine smile.

"Hi," Angel, Cordy, Xander, and Buffy returned.

"Hi, how's it going," Doyle questioned politely.

Melissa handed Buffy the plant, "I brought this for you guys."

"Oh. Thanks," Buffy smiled at the woman, happy that Melissa was finally going to get her life back together.

"I hope it doesn't need light," Angel said.

"I'm sure it'll be fine in here," Melissa replied.

"Can I offer you some coffee," Cordelia asked.

"Coffee, oh no," Melissa refused quickly, not wanting to taste the horribly made coffee again, "I can only stay a minute. Places to go, people to see," she gazed thankfully at Angel, "Thanks to you, all of you."

At that moment, Cordelia, Doyle, and Xander started to "subtly" cough, and Doyle "accidently" dropped his pen, all to remind Angel of the money they needed to get from Melissa.

Uncomfortably, Angel said, "Ah- there..."

Melissa glanced at the others who were coughing and Buffy, who avoided her gaze by playing with the leaves of the plant. "What," she asked.

"There is- ah- there is a- bill?"

"Bill who?"

"A bill for our services."

"Oh, of course. That's the other reason I came," she pulled out a check from her purse and handed it to Angel, "Here."

Cordy darted forward and happily snatched it from her hand. "I'll take that, thank you," she said and then giddily skipped back to her spot by the desk, showing Xander and Doyle their first check.

"I mean," Angel said, "we didn't do it for the money." Buffy nodded her head in agreement.

"Oh please, you earned it," she reached over and shook Buffy and Angel's hands, "Well, I hope I never see you again."

"Me too," Buffy replied, "Good luck."

Without a backward glance, Melissa turned away and walked out the door.

"Well that didn't go so badly," Doyle stated.

"See," Cordelia said, "you can save a damsel and make decent money. Is this a great country or what!"

"Let's march down to the bank and deposit this beauty."

"You guys go ahead," Angel declined, "I think I'll stay here and not burst into flames."

"Oh right, without that ring, you're pretty much the night deposit guy," Doyle teased him, "still, cause to celebrate."

"You think everything's a cause to celebrate," Cordelia replied and picked up her purse, "We could use more of these. You two coming," she asked Buffy and Xander.

"No," Xander answered, "Buffy and I are going to go get some coffee."

"But I just made some coffee."

"No thank you. We actually want to live."

Cordelia shot a glare at him, but still had a gleeful smile on her face. "Say what you want, Harris. Nothing can ruin this day."

She and Doyle exited the office, their arguing voices about Doyle having more visions echoing down the hall.

"You want to go now," Xander asked Buffy as they went into Angel's office.

She placed Melissa's gift on Angel's desk and stepped in front of him. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us," she questioned him an placed a hand on his chest.

"It's daylight," he bluntly replied.

The slayer shrugged her shoulders in a dismissive manner, "So? You've got the ring."

"Buffy, we talked about this," he started to protest, but, as always, Buffy was persistent.

"It's just coffee, Angel. I doubt you'll forget that you're a vampire seeking redemption in an hour's time." Her boyfriend playfully glared at her comment.

"Just go and save yourself, man," Xander added, "You know she's not going to give up."

Buffy nodded in agreement, "That's right. Besides, you don't want Cordelia's recycled coffee, do you?"

Angel paused a moment, "I'll go get the ring," he decided and bolted down the stairs.

Buffy grinned devilishly at her best guy friend. "Having power feels great."

"Yeah, it must make some interesting games in the bedroom."

She swatted him on the shoulder in response.

"Ow."

End

Next installment: "Room with a View"

Lynn


	12. Room With a View pt1

Dude, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted. My bad for keeping you ppl waiting. I hope you like.

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"  
By: Lynn  
DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!  
DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process.

SUMMARY: This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!  
SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.

IMPORTANT A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

"Room with a View"

Part 1

"Wow."

Heavily panting, Buffy flopped down on Angel's comfy bed, the vampire following right after her. Although it was totally unnecessary, Angel was also breathing hard, but only from the exertion of the intense experience the two just shared.

"That was...," Buffy couldn't finish her sentence, unable to describe the previous events.

"Yeah," Angel replied, understanding her completely. He propped himself on his side so he was facing her. After brushing off a few of her blonde hairs that were matted to her forehead, he suggested with a smirk, "You wanna go again?"

Buffy giggled and gathered what was left of her strength to sit up. "I think that's enough for today. We've been going at it for a couple hours now. Giles didn't even work me this hard."

Angel's smirk became more devilish, "Giles doesn't have half the stamina I do, baby."

His girlfriend rolled her eyes. "You have testosterone issues." She then wrinkled her nose, thinking about their conversation and how it sounded. "Wait, we're talking about training, right?"

"What else would we be talking about," he shrugged innocently, his trademark grin still in place.

Buffy playfully glared at him. "Gutter face," she muttered before leaning in and capturing his lips in a gentle kiss.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Will," Buffy said to her red headed friend as they walked through the crowded mall the next day, "Our training sessions keep getting more and more intense each time." 

"Maybe you two are getting better at your fighting techniques," Willow suggested.

"Maybe, but I think it's something more than that. It's just like our training sessions we used to have at the mansion, only more... intense."

Willow grinned, "You said that already."

"I know, but I don't know how else to describe it. After he came back from hell, and we knew what would happened if we... you know, there was so much built up tension that we vented through sparring. Do you think that can be it?"

"Well, it's been over a month since he told you about his soul, and you're at his house every other night, why would there be any tension?" Buffy blushed and looked at the tile floor they were walking on. Her best friend's eyes widened in realization and her jaw dropped.

"You two haven't... yet," Willow's voice was lowered so other patrons couldn't hear their conversation. Buffy shook her head negatively to answer her question. "Why? I mean, what do you guys do when you stay overnight if not that?"

"We decided to take things slow. We talk... and other stuff. It's nice, but... is it bad that I want more than nice?"

"Of course it's not bad. You guys have been through a lot. You two deserve more than nice."

The blonde slayer smiled. "Good, then you can help me pick out an outfit for tonight." She then proceeded to drag the blushing Willow into Victoria's Secret.

* * *

"I've had it with these cheap trash bags! They leak and break and end up costing us more," the two girls heard from Cordelia as they walked in the office that night. Buffy ignored the drama queen and smiled at Doyle as she walked passed them and into her boyfriend's private office. 

After her horribly acted out line, Cordelia dropped the torn, white trash bag she held to the floor.

"I believe it," Doyle, who was standing in front of her told her.

"Yeah, it was a great audition," Cordelia exclaimed, "I was all about things leaking. How could they not pick me?"  
"They don't know what they're missing."

The phone started to ring, but was ignored by the brunette secretary as she continued to vent.

"They gave it to a blonde that showed up in a skintight leather cat suit. She is supposed to be a housewife. She looked ridiculous. She looked like cat woman taking out the cat trash."

"Are you going to answer that," Willow questioned Cordelia as the phone continued to ring.

"Good question," Angel said stepping out of the office. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. Buffy came up behind him and slipped into his embrace. Both of them had irritation clearly written on their faces.

"Oh, yeah, right," Cordelia headed to her desk, but the ringing ended when the answering machine turned on, "Oh, the machine got it." She just shrugged it off and sat down, adding to her boss's annoyance.

"Hey Cordy. It's Aura!" Much to everybody's surprise, Cordelia didn't pick up the phone immediately to talk to her friend from Sunnydale. "Just wanted to check in you know, see how you were doing. Oh, you would not believe what's going on in Sunnydale!"

As the girl rambled on, on the machine, Angel rolled his eyes at the lack of importance of the phone call and went back inside his office, taking Buffy with him.

"Remind me again why I hired her," Angel requested from Buffy, gazing down at her and holding her closer.

"Because even though it's not working, you still have a good heart."

"Hmm," Angel rested his forehead against Buffy's, "that's my curse," he joked.

She gently smiled and played with is soft, brown hair, "No, thankfully that's gone."

Angel returned the smile lovingly and kissed down from her forehead and to her willing lips. Their kiss remained sweet and loving. With one more brief kiss they separated. Angel went to his chair and continued the book he was reading before Buffy entered, and his slayer sat right next to him with a text book she brought in front of her.

"Bye Buffy! Bye Angel! I'm taking off," Cordelia's voice rang out as she exited the office's front door.

A second later, Willow walked in, followed by Doyle. The redhead grabbed a chair and sat next to her best friend, beginning a quiet conversation. Doyle opted to sit in front of Angel's desk, propping his feet on top of the wood surface.

For a second, Angel's eyes fleeted from his book to look at the offending boots on his desk. He remained silent though, and went back to reading.

"She's really something isn't she," Doyle said, breaking the silence between the two men, "It's like wrestling a tiger just to get to know her." Angel continued to read and ignore the half demon, but he was persistent. "Tell me stuff."

Angel finally tore himself away from his book and looked at Doyle with question, "What stuff?"

"About Cordelia."

"Well I-I know she can't type or file," he told him thoughtfully, "Until today I had some hope regarding the phone."

Doyle shook his head negatively and turned towards the two girls.

"Never mind. Can you two tell me stuff about Cordelia?"

Buffy shrugged. "I can tell you things about the past three years, but Willow's known her since grade school."

"What do you want to know," Willow asked Doyle.

"Who's Aura," he chose to go with.

Willow scoffed and rolled her eyes. "One of Cordelia's friends from Sunnydale. They followed her around like a pack of flying monkeys. They were called the 'Cordettes'. Their source of entertainment was to make people who actually have a mind of their own go crazy with the constant teasing and belittling. I mean, they're lucky that I'm a good person or that I didn't discover magicks before I met Buffy or else they all would've woken up one day with boils o-or a tail…"

"Will," Buffy interrupted, effectively ending Willow's ramblings.

"Um, sorry. My stuff," the red head apologized.

Buffy sympathetically patted Willow's hand before she picked up where Willow trailed off. "They were a bunch of girls from wealthy families. They ruled the high school. Decided what was in, who was popular."

"It was like the Soviet secret Police if they cared a lot about shoes," Angel added in. He placed his book on his desk, knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to it anytime soon.

"And she was the richest one of all," Doyle concluded, "Because the way she talks, it sounds like she had servants made of solid gold or something."

"Pretty much. Until her parents lost it all. Riches to rags."

"One hell of a come down."

"Yeah, but she's doing all right."

* * *

After Doyle left a little while later, Buffy and Willow exchanged secretive looks behind Angel's back and nodded at each other, signaling that their plan would start right at that moment. 

"Uh… Angel," Willow said, getting the vampire's attention, "You know how I've been practicing my magicks?"

Angel nodded and replied, "Yeah."

"You wanna see it?" Buffy tried to hide her giggles with her hand at her friend's lame way of stalling. When Angel turned his head to look at her, the slayer straightened up and pursed her lips, holding back her laughter.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

As Willow reached into her bag to retrieve one of her spell books, Buffy rose from her chair.

"Well, I'm gonna go downstairs and set up for a late night workout," Buffy declared. Her double entendre was only understood by her and Willow.

"Okay," Angel said, "You don't need any help?"

"Angel, if I could fight vampires and demons on a nightly basis, a couple of couches and mats should be a no-brainer."

"Alright, um, we shouldn't be long, right," he turned to Willow.

"Oh, yeah. I have this stuff down. I'll be ten minutes, tops." When Angel looked back at Buffy, the rookie Wicca winked at her best friend and mouthed "twenty."

* * *

Angel let out a deep breath and rubbed a hand over his eyes as he walked down the stairs to his apartment. 

Willow's simple magic demonstration had taken longer than expected. In attempt to show Angel her "really pretty rose petal" trick she had "accidentally" conjured up some bunnies, and then multiplied them when she tried to make them disappear.

Once they finally managed to make the flocks of bunnies go back to wherever they came from, Willow mumbled her apology with barely contained giggles, and dashed out of the office after she gave him a quick hug. Her actions made him a little suspicious that she was up to something.

When he stepped into the apartment, the smell of burning vanilla candles and the sound of soft, romantic jazz music came to his attention.

"Buffy," he called out, looking around curiously. The lights in his apartment were turned off, but there was a dim glow of lights coming from his bedroom.

His path towards his room seemed to take forever. When he reached his destination, what he saw were lit candles scattered about the room, but no Buffy.

He called out for his girlfriend again and waited for her to enter the obvious scene of seduction.

A second later, the woman responsible for making his libido go crazy emerged from the bathroom. His arousal increased ten fold when he laid his eyes on his girlfriend who was leaning seductively against the doorframe.

All she wore was a black, lacy bra and panty set, both of them leaving little to the imagination. She also had on a sheer kimono open and hanging by her elbows. His eyes traveled down her long, smooth legs which were defined by her black stilettos.

"Wh-What's…," was all he was able to get out, thrown off guard by these turn of events.

"I thought we could work out a bit differently tonight," she explained in a voice that made him want to bend to her every will.

Her seductive smirk wavered a bit under Angel's gaze. His silent scrutiny was making her a little self-conscience.

Finally the vampire found his voice and said, "I thought we were going to take it slow."

Buffy stepped closer to Angel until she was pressed up against his muscular body, his arms wrapping around her instinctively.

"We've been taking it slow ever since you were brought back to me," she informed him while rubbing her hands over his chest, making it a little difficult to pay attention to what she was saying, "That was over a year ago. I'm done with slow."

After a few moments that seemed to last forever for Buffy, Angel smoothed his hand through her long, blonde hair and grinned. He leaned in for a kiss and lead her back to the bed.

While he hovered over her and ran his hand over her body, he commented huskily, "Sometimes slow could be good. I'll show you."

* * *

Meanwhile, Cordelia finally made it to her dump of an apartment. 

When she got her door open, her keys stuck in the lock, much to her annoyance. After she yanked them out, she bumped her elbow hard on the door frame.

"Ouch! Damn it," she cursed.

She switched on the dim light, and they flickered before staying on. She went to her "kitchen" to get herself a glass of water. Instead of the clean, clear water that was expected, a gunky, brown liquid gushed out of the faucet and splattered her white blouse, adding more to her crap-filled day.

She set the glass down and muttered, "Yeah, well, of course."

Cordy made her way to her living room, plopped down on the lumpy couch, and turned on the lamp to add a little more light to the apartment.

She clicked on the TV, only to find a huge cockroach crawling on the snowy screen. She groaned in disgust and picked up the phone to call the manager of the building.

"Hello? Hi, this is Cordelia Chase from apartment 4B," two more cockroaches joined the other one on the TV, "I thought you were going to have the exterminator in here today?… Well, if he had, don't you think there would be…" She put her foot down on the floor and heard a crunch come from the bottom of her shoe. She looked down and found her carpet littered with dead bugs.

"Ah, oh God! Ahh," she screamed and jumped, slamming down the phone.

The bugs were the last straw. She remembered Doyles' offer to stay over at his apartment, and being as desperate as she was, she flipped through her address book to find his number.

* * *

The loud knocking on Angel's metal, sliding door interrupted the activities going on in the shower, no matter how much the two tried to ignore it. 

Angel apologized to his lover and stumbled out of the shower. He grabbed the nearest towel and wrapped it around his waist, not bothering to dry himself off.

He rushed out of the bathroom, a billow of steam following in his wake, to answer the continuous knocking and turn away the person who dared to interrupt his and Buffy's night.

"Alright, alright," he mumbled before opening the door.

Cordelia stood on the other side and immediately stepped in without an invitation. She instantly shoved a couple of suitcases into his arms, and with a grunt, he struggled to hold the bags and keep his towel on at the same time.

"Oh God Angel! It's so terrible," Cordelia cried dramatically, "Oh my gosh," she turned around and held up her hands, "Don't even look at me! I am such a mess. I am the lowest of the lowest," she pointed to the open door she entered, "and you're going to want to get my other suitcase out there in the hall."

Angel glanced in the direction she gestured to and then back at Cordelia, who turned to the record player still playing Buffy's romantic music and moved the needle to shut it off. He opened his mouth to question why she was here when he heard his love's voice as she entered the room.

"Cordelia, you're here," Buffy stated, sounding a bit miffed. She was wearing Angel's red robe and her hair was still wet from the interrupted shower. She stood next to Angel and eyed the bags he juggled in his arms. "With luggage… Why?"

The usually well-groomed brunette glared at Buffy. "I'm sorry that I barged in on Sex-fest '99, but there are dire circumstances in this world that need to be taken care of."

"Like what?"

"My apartment! It's like the barrio- or the projects or whatever, and I live there! I'm the girl from the projects!"

Angel almost dropped one of the bags as he shared a look with his girlfriend, who helped him out and took one of the bags. She didn't want him to accidentally drop his towel drop and give the drama queen a free show of his goods.

"What? I don't know about that," Angel said.

"Get this. I tried to call Doyle. I have sunk that low. And there was no answer. So, here I am. Not that you're the last resort. It's just I have nowhere else left to go. I would've gone to your apartment, Buffy, but I don't know where it is."

She sat down and looked at the couple staring at her. Cordelia didn't seem to care that she interrupted something between the two.

Buffy set down the suitcase she held on the floor. "If I told you, would you leave," Buffy asked, not even trying to hide how annoyed she was.

Cordelia gazed at her incredulously, "Why would I do that if I just have to be back here in the morning?" Buffy was about to retort when Cordy decided to continue on with her rant about her crap-hole of an apartment.

"Roaches. Live ones, dead ones. All skinny feet and creepy antlers," she emphasized it by holding two fingers on both sides of her head.

"Antlers," Angel repeated.

"Oh my God! I wonder how many stowed away in that bag?" The other two nervously looked at the suitcase by Buffy's feet and the one Angel still held in his arms. "Also, the water is all brown and spurty, not hot! I am dying for a shower."

'Yeah,' Buffy thought, 'well, I'm dying to finish mine.'

"I," Cordelia continued, "actually smell. Smell me. I never smell. I didn't know I could. I'm just going to have to stay here until I can find a decent place, however long that takes, and when I do you are completely invited over. You can just dump my stuff on the couch, because if you think I'll sleep on the bed where you two got sweaty, you got another thing coming. Also, my suitcase is still out in the hall."

Throughout her rambling and self-invite, Buffy and Angel stared at her with open mouths, not sure with what to say. Cordelia ignored their stares and shouldered one of her bags.

"Your shower is here, right? You have mousse," Cordelia glanced at Angel's dripping wet hair, "Of course you do."

Without another word, Cordy disappeared into the previously abandoned bathroom, leaving Angel and Buffy scratching their heads.

"Well," Buffy sighed and crossed her arms, "So much for our night."

Angel finally put down the bag he was holding. He took a step closer towards the pouting slayer and rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

"Yeah, but we have plenty of nights ahead of us," he placed a kiss on her forehead and pulled her into his embrace. His statement brought a bright smile to her face.

Buffy looked up at him with her arms tightly around his waist.

"At least we got to do it once before Her Majesty Cordelia graced us with her presence," she said, causing both of them to burst out into laughter.

They leaned in towards each other. Their lips only touched for a brief second when Cordelia's voice rang out from the bedroom.

"I better not see anything above a G-rating when I get out!"

Buffy and Angel rolled their eyes and separated.

"My gosh. It's like having an overgrown child," Buffy groaned and shuffled into the bedroom to tidy up a bit.

* * *

The next morning, Doyle unlocked the office door and stepped in with a panicked look in his eye. As he checked his watch, he saw the dark purple bruise on his right hand, a reminder of how much trouble he was in. 

When Doyle got home from Angel Investigations the night before, he had a little run in with a demon who was collecting for one of the many people he owed money to.

Luckily, he got away when he used the drawer the demon slammed his hand in as a weapon. The whole night consisted of a violent version of hide and go seek.

He took the elevator to Angel's apartment and called out for him. He traveled to the kitchen and found Cordelia sitting at the table in a white bathroom robe. She was combing her fingers through her wet hair while looking at her reflection through a metal teapot.

"Hey Doyle," she greeted him. "You ever get that feeling that you just can't shower enough? Like something's happened and you're never going to get clean?"

Angel walked in the kitchen at that moment, followed closely by a disheveled looking Buffy. The well built vampire had on his black boxers and the robe Buffy had on last night, while the slayer wore her boyfriend's black silk shirt.

He came up behind Doyle and held up one hand to Cordy.

"You got peanut butter on the sheets," Angel claimed.

"Really," Cordy responded while Doyle stared back and forth in shock at the three, "I don't think so." Angel held up his hand as proof and Cordelia stood up from her chair, "I'll look."

After Cordelia exited the kitchen, Buffy made her way around the gaping Irish man and plopped down in Cordelia's seat.

"No, no, no, no, no," Doyle spoke up, "Angel man, how could you?"

"How what," Angel followed Buffy's path and stood behind her after wiping his hands on a dish towel.

"Man you know I was crazy about her, and I was wearing her down, too. But no, handsome, brooding vampire guy has to swoop in, all sensitive mouth and overhanging forehead," Angel frowned and touched his aforementioned body part. "How about leaving some scraps for the homely looking fellas who don't already have a girl to keep him warm; a beautiful slayer not to mention. She should be more than enough for you."

Buffy's mouth dropped open and she glared angrily at Doyle when she figured out immediately what he was insinuating.

"Okay, first of all, you are a sleaze and so deluded if you think that I would share Angel with anyone, especially Cordelia, and second of all, she slept on the couch last night because something's wrong with her place."

Doyle glanced over at the couch with sheets haphazardly thrown on it. "Oh," the couple raised their eyebrows at him, "that's okay I suppose."

"Angel," Cordelia said when she walked back in fully dressed, "at some point in the recent history YOU got peanut butter on the sheets, and it's gross. In the 20th century we call it a 'washing machine.' Use it."

"I don't eat," Angel replied.

"Well there is another person here that does eat and I don't see you accusing her."

Buffy turned her killer glare toward Cordelia, "I actually clean up after myself. I didn't do it."

"Well, then, I don't even want to know how it got there."

The slayer scoffed and rolled her eyes. She got up from the chair and grumbled incoherently all the way to the bedroom with Angel at her heels.

Cordy reclaimed her seat and began to brush her hair out.

"Hey, Cordy, you look great by the way," Doyle stated.

"I wouldn't know. The man doesn't even have a mirror. Like it would kill him not to see himself?"

Doyle laughed and was about to remind her about Angel's situation, but decided against it.

"Listen, I was wondering if anybody called lately? Maybe asking about me or maybe wanting my address?"

"Oh, yeah. Yesterday your cousin called with one of those names from your part of England."

Doyle gazed at her strangely. "My part of England?"

"Conner or Fergus… did he find you?"

He sighed, "Yeah, he did, all right. But you see, a little ah- warning might have been nice, give a fella a chance to neat the place up, you know?"

Cordelia just stared at him. "Geez, I just helped the guy as a favor to you," she stood up from her chair and walked to the sink, "Maybe next time I won't bother."

"Well it's not like you even have to pick up the phone. You just let your friend Aura hang there."

"Ok, here's an idea," she walked back to Doyle and set her glass of clear water on the table, "How about you make me a list of people you're too good to talk to."

Angel came back in still in his robe and boxers. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Doyle said, "just…"

"You got a bruise on your hand," Angel stated.

Doyle glanced at the large purple welt. "Badminton."

"And the reason there is a wet towel on my leather chair?" He picked up the yellow towel and looked accusingly at Cordelia, who just gave him a smile full of guilt.

Angel dropped the offending object back down and left the room more irritated than before.

* * *

A little later on, Doyle was still in Angel's kitchen, watching Cordelia tear into Angel's vinyl floor. 

"Doyle you down here," Buffy called out as she came down the stairs from the office. "Oh, there you are. There's a big guy there to see you. I'll tell him you'll be right up."

Panic washed over Doyle's face. "Oh, that's great."

Buffy nodded and headed back up the stairs. As soon as the slayer was out of sight, Doyle made a mad dash out the back door. When he burst through another set of doors, he ran straight into Angel, and Buffy stepped up behind him, both with serious looks on their faces.

"You know it's not nice to trick people," Doyle told them in a shaky voice.

"You're going to tell us what's going on," Angel asked him, but Doyle knew it was more of a statement.

* * *

"You don't even know who this demon is collecting for," Buffy said, the three of them were gathered outside of the office. 

"All right, look, here's how it works: I owe some people- other people owe me. I do a favor for some guy and the debt goes away. It's a system of checks and balances."

"And some of your checks didn't balance," Angel summed up.

"Well it'll work out. It just takes a little diplomacy- the kind of thing you two are so good at actually. Say, maybe one of you couldn't mind taking a crack at it?"

"We all have problems," Angel said with a sigh, "It's a matter of priorities. And at the moment I've got a bigger one than you do."

"Bigger than a Kailiff demon?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Much. I'm thinking you can help with Angel's and maybe we can help you with yours."

"I don't know, man. I mean, what's your problem, exactly? Because you know, vampire business is…"

The sound of Cordelia clearing her throat interrupted the conversation, and all eyes turned toward the guilty looking brunette.

"Hi," Cordy greeted with a smile and waved. "I was just wondering if you had any linoleum glue- for if it started curling up all over.

"I'll be there in a minute," Angel told her, keeping his anger in check.

"Okay." As Cordy turned to leave, Buffy gave Doyle a look that said, "See what I mean?"

"Find her an apartment and we'll deal with your demon," Angel negotiated with Doyle, making it a done deal.

* * *

On the couple's insistence, Doyle took Cordelia apartment hunting later on that day. Willow had just entered the office before they left, and was a bit surprised when Cordelia dragged her right back out the door to tag along with them. 

The three followed the landlord of the first building they went to, down a murky hallway.

"You know," Doyle said, "I wish you would just let me call my guy."

Cordelia skimmed the newspaper she was holding and responded with, "I'm not going to get an apartment through 'some guy'. He probably judges the property value on how far the bus ride is to the track."

Doyle took a look around the area and sarcastically commented, "Well, it can't get any worse than this, can it?"

"You can't tell anything from the hallway."

The bald landlord with a cigar let them in the apartment and suddenly, Cordelia's "Don't judge a book by it's cover" attitude died quickly.

The apartment was tiny and made her former place look like a room from the Hilton Hotel. The walls and floors were dirty and the furniture looked as if they've seen their last days.

"Hey, you're right," Doyle smartly stated, "You know what I smell in here," at Cordelia's look, he said, "Potential."

Willow examined the room, trying to find a silver lining, "Well, you know, if you made a few repairs and spruced the place up a bit," she suddenly dropped the act and grimaced in disgust when she took a closer look around, "this place would still be cramped and disgusting. Let's go… please."

Cordelia wrapped her arms around herself. "The next one will be better," she stated hopefully.

The brunette couldn't have been more wrong. After a building owned by a cult and then a nice apartment with a perverted manager, Cordelia finally gave in to Doyle's offer to help her out.

It only took Doyle one phone call to find Cordelia the place of her dreams.

As soon as the realtor lady opened the door, Cordelia fell in love with the place. It had more room than she could've imagined. It was furnished with things that didn't even look like it was touched. The whole place looked bright and clean, and she was sure that the water was clear and chunky-free.

"Oh my gosh," she gasped, "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"

She stepped into the apartment in awe.

"No never," Doyle replied while staring at her back with a sparkle in his eye. Willow saw his look and grinned at him.

"This place is awesome, Cordelia," Willow gushed. "If I didn't already have an apartment, I'd take it."

After a quick look around and a very brief questioning with what was wrong with it, the realtor left to fill out the rental forms so Cordelia could claim the place as hers.

"First thing, I hire someone to take out that wall." Cordy waved to the white painted wall separating the dining room from the living room.

"I thought you said it was perfect," Willow said.

"Yes, and part of being perfect is that there being one tiny flaw for me to fix."

"Ah, must be why you find me so fascinating," Doyle said.

Cordy just laughed in response. She was too giddy to throw him one of her sharp remarks.

"Oh my gosh, I love my apartment. Your guy found the perfect place," she hugged Doyle and squealed, "I love your guy!"

"Yeah, well, it's a pretty good day's work for us, I think. I take care of your problem; Buffy and Angel takes care of mine. All in all things are pretty sweet."

Cordy took his arm and lead him out with Willow right next to them. "Yes! And I can move right in."

"And the good thing is," Willow added as they walked out the door, "there aren't any herds of roaches and you don't have to worry about some creep watching you as you sleep."

When they left, a bulge in the shape of a face appeared in the wall that Cordelia planned to tear down.

TBC…


	13. Room With a View pt2

"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"  
By: Lynn  
DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!  
DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process.  
SUMMARY: This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!  
SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.  
E-MAIL:

IMPORTANT A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.

"Room With a View"

Part 2

"Definitely a bachelor," Buffy mumbled and kicked a carelessly strewn shirt into a pile of more dirty laundry.

"Why are men so disgusting," she turned to her lover who was silently sizing up the room.

After a moment, Angel looked at her, too caught up into his examination to respond right away.

"Huh?"

Buffy waved her hand in dismissal. "Never mind." She went back to skimming the room and found an empty drawer amongst another pile of scattered clothes.

When Angel went to examine the dresser, Buffy brought the drawer over to him.

Suddenly, a large brown hand shot out from behind them and slammed Angel's head onto the wooden surface of the dresser, causing him to sink to the ground.

Before Buffy could react, an arm was wrapped tightly around her neck and she was thrown against a wall.

Her attacker was a dark brown, suited-up demon with pointy spines along his jaw and bald head. When he lunged at her again, Buffy punched him in the face and maneuvered herself behind the demon and pinned him against the wall. At the same time, Angel popped up from the floor with a growl and his vamp face intact.

Buffy roughly pushed the demon's face into the wall.

"My name's Buffy, what's yours," she said with obviously fake politeness.

When the demon just growled in return, she smashed his face into the wall again.

"My name's Buffy, what's yours," she repeated more fiercely.

"Screw you… Slayer," the demon finally replied.

Unsatisfied with his reply, she, once again, violently slammed him into the wall.

Finally, the demon gave her the answer she wanted.

"Griff," he grumbled.

"Good start," Angel said with intimidation. He stood next to his girlfriend, still in his vamp face. "Who do you work for?"

"He never gave me his card," Buffy harshly threw Griff to the floor, and Angel tackled the demon with a growl. "I don't know his name, he gets his orders to me."

"You can get a message back to him?"

"Yeah."

Angel lifted the demon to his feet none too gently and morphed back into his human face.

"You're letting me go?"

"No, he's letting you up," Buffy said, "You were sent to collect for Doyle?"

"At first. But I'm not seeing any money. So now Doyle gets dead. A message to the others."

"And your boss never gets his money." Angel added, "Pretty expensive message when you add in whatever he is paying you."

"My fees are very competitive."

"I can get Doyle to pay you the money. You have my guarantee."

"I saw what I saw, right," Griff directed towards Angel, "You're a vampire… How come you're here with a little girl of a slayer and helping some little demon half-breed?"

"It's a good offer," Buffy said, ignoring the demon's comment, "You should take it. On the other hand, you're making me want to fight some more and show you exactly what this little girl can do. You get lucky, you might last ten minutes. Really lucky, and you're unconscious for the last five."

"Ooh… she's a feisty little thing," the slayer took a threatening step forward. "You get Doyle to pay and he's safe."

"Thanks. Good meeting."

* * *

Later that night, Cordy slept peacefully in her new home.

As a gentle breeze came through the open window, the room became a bit chillier, causing Cordelia to snuggle deeper into her sheets.

All of a sudden, the silence of the room was broken when the radio next to her bed turned on. The stations changed from the rock music Cordelia usually listened to, to an AM station that had on an old song with the singer crooning out the words "You always hurt the one you love."

Cordelia's drawers were opened and closed one by one by an unseen force, and a pair of invisible hands sorted through her clothes.

A shadow was cast over Cordelia's sleeping form and a voice whispered, "What do you think you're doing here? You never should have come."

A drawer that was left open, slammed shut loudly, jolting Cordelia awake abruptly.

She sat up in her bed and her eyes darted around the room in fear. She turned off the radio and then tried to flick on the lamp, but found that it didn't work. When she went to grab a glass of water on the nightstand, it began to boil and she yanked her hand away from the heat. Suddenly, the bed was lifted from the ground and started to levitate.

"I just knew this was too good to be true. I just knew it," she exclaimed. "I'm from Sunnydale, you're not scaring me, you know. No. You're not scaring me. Not one bit."

As the sun rose the next morning, Cordelia was still sitting up in her floating bed rocking back and forth and hugging a pillow to her chest. All of a sudden, Cordy let out a huge gasp when the bed dropped to the floor.

She got out of bed and when through her morning routine as if nothing ever happened.

She took down her brown hair from the messy bun she had it in and ran her fingers through it while looking in the mirror.

"Bright, shiny morning," she said to her reflection, "nothing bad here."

She opened the medicine cabinet to get a q-tip, when she closed it, an old lady appeared beside her own reflection, which was unnoticed by Cordelia.

Cordelia stepped into the living room and pulled a chair away from the wall that she wanted to knock down, but the chair slid back into place. Cordy pulled the chair out further and watched and jumped as it slammed back into the wall with a greater force, causing one of the legs to break off. She backed away from the broken chair and a curtain cord snaked itself around her arm. She let out a scream and shook it off frantically.

"You know what," Cordy exclaimed, "I get it. You're a ghost. You're dead. Big accomplishment! Move on! You see a light anywhere? Go towards it, okay?" A sudden gust of wind blew the paper scraps from the boxes across Cordy's face.

"Ooh, cold wind, scary! What are you going to do? Chap me to death? What else you got?"

The was a knock at the door and Cordelia, once again, jumped in fear.

Angel's voice came through the door. "Cordelia, are you in there," Cordelia just stared at the door, "Cordelia!"

Cordelia pulled herself together enough to make her way to the door and she hesitantly opened it. On the other side stood Doyle, Angel, Buffy, Xander, and Oz.

Angel held up a potted cactus that could fit into the palm of his hand.

"Cactus," he said, "housewarming present."

"We were going to get you a little fish," Buffy stated, "but then we thought a cactus would be harder to kill from neglect."

"Oh, uh, thanks," Cordelia said, accepting the tiny cactus.

Doyle tried to step in first, but Cordelia blocked him and the others from coming in.

"Look I'm still getting it just the way I want," Cordy told them in a hurry, "Maybe in a day or two, okay?"

Doyle pushed past her and the others filed behind him. "Place looks great. You worry too much." Doyle saw the broken chair on the floor. "Don't know what you had against that chair though."

"It's a good thing we didn't get you that fish then, huh," Xander commented and then continued to scan the apartment.

Cordelia looked at Angel who was still standing at the doorway. "Oh that's right you can't come in." Angel stepped over the threshold and shut the door behind him while Cordelia gaped at him in shock.

"Wait," she exclaimed, "What about the rule?"

"You said when you got a place I was completely invited over," Angel replied.

"What! I didn't even have a place then. These rules are getting all screwed up." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Buffy pull on the curtain cord. "Oh my God don't touch that!"

Buffy looked at her former classmate with a raised eyebrow and ignored her demand. "I'm just closing these so my boyfriend, the payer of your salary, doesn't burst into flames, if that's all right with you?"

"Oh. Yeah. I guess."

"Hmm, Willow wasn't exaggerating. This is nice," Oz complimented.

"How about a tour," Angel suggested.

"Uh huh," Cordelia stood in place and pointed in different directions, "this is the kitchen, living room, I'm going to knock out that wall, And that's about it. Oh, and thanks for the cactus."

"I can't believe you can afford this," Buffy stated, walking forward with Angel. Unbeknownst to them, and anyone else, a pair of scissors flew towards Angel's back, but were caught by Cordelia before anyone could notice.

"Yeah, it's definitely a real big step up from the dump you used to rent out," Xander added, stepping up next to his ex, not noticing she had the pair of scissors in her hand. "Good job Cordy. My hat's off to you."

"Uh thanks," she replied, sounding a bit distracted. She placed the small cactus on a little table and she opened a drawer to drop the scissors in. Suddenly, an impression of a face pressed up against the bottom of the drawer, and Cordy slammed it shut.

Her guests turned when they heard the sound and stared at her suspiciously.

"I bet you guys want lunch," Cordelia quickly said, "There is this place down the street…"

One of Cordelia's trophies on the mantel above the fireplace flew towards Doyle's neck, but Angel caught it before it did any damage.

"That thing's been doing that all morning," Cordy tried to cover up when everyone looked at her for answers, "I think the, uh, mantel is uneven."

"That thing lunged at me," Doyle exclaimed.

"What's going on," Buffy asked.

"Okay, you're right. It's not the mantel," Cordelia said, "It's a very, VERY bad trophy."

The sound of a frightening moan caused them to turn their heads towards the wall behind Cordelia. What looked like to be red blood seeped through the wall and spelled out the word "Die." Everybody stared in shock at the wall.

"Dear sweet…," Xander said.

Angel tried to pull Cordelia to them and away from the wall. "Come on."

"I am not giving up this apartment," Cordy yelled.

"It's haunted," Xander pointed out.

"It's rent controlled!"

"Cordy, it says 'die'!" Buffy tried to get through her stubborn head.

"Hey, maybe it's not done. Maybe it's 'diet'. That's friendly. A little judgmental, sure. I'm not giving it up. It's perfect and beautiful. It's so me. I need it!"

Xander and Oz had her by the arms and tried to lead her out the front door.

"You don't need this," Angel told her, "It's just a place. You're more than that."

"How? How am I more than that?"

"We can cleanse it." Doyle suggested, "Well we can try, can we? Put the ghost to rest?"

"Can we," Cordy looked hopefully at everyone in turn.

"We can try," Angel acquiesced, "But we have to go now. We'll figure it out in the office."

"Okay," she gave in. As Xander and Oz tried to drag her out the door, she turned and yelled into the apartment, "Listen good, Casper, you haven't won a thing here! I'll die before I give up the apartment, you here me? I'll die!"

* * *

No time was wasted when they got to the office. They went straight to researching when they reached the place. Willow met up with them not long after, and was immediately assigned to the computer after she was quickly informed of Cordelia's predicament.

"Lots of stuff here about the building," Willow said, "Construction bids, city inspections."

"Tenants," Angel said, "We need people who lived there."

"And died there," Cordy added while pouring some coffee for herself, coffee that she actually didn't make this time, "That's ingredients for ghosts, right?"

With her eyes still on the computer, Willow smirked, "Don't worry people, I am on it."

Buffy stepped next to Cordelia.

"You know, this really is just a place to live," the blonde told her gently.

"No, it's more," Cordy gushed, "It's beautiful, and if it goes away it's like…"

"Like what," Angel urged on, stepping next to the girls.

Cordelia answered sadly and quietly, "Like I'm still getting punished."

"Punished," he repeated and Cordelia nodded, "For what?"

"I don't know," her brown eyes looked at each of her former classmates with guilt, "For what I was? For everything I said in high school just because I could get away with it? And then it all ended, and I had to pay. Oh, but this apartment, I could be me again. Punishment over- welcome back to your life! Like, like I couldn't be that awful if I get to have a place like that? It's just like you," she said to Angel.

He nodded in understanding. "Working for redemption."

Cordelia frowned in confusion, "I-I meant because you used to have that mansion."

All Angel could do was blink in response while the Scoobies who were listening, rolled their eyes. Their sympathetic feelings for the girl crumbled at that moment.

"Hey! I found something," Willow cheered. Cordelia rushed over to the computer, and the rest did their best to gather around the desk to see the screen. "First person to ever live in your place- Mrs. Maude Pearson."

"How did you get that," Doyle wondered.

"She's Willow," Xander bluntly replied, "Goddess of Computers."

The redhead smiled at her best guy friend and answered Doyle's question. "Name carved over the entrance of the building, Pearson Arms. I checked the obits for Pearson, we got lucky. Turns out Maude Pearson built the place and took a unit there, too. And in 1946 she dropped dead of a heart attack in Cordelia's room at age 57."

"That's it," Cordelia said excitedly, "That's her!"

"I don't know," Angel doubted, "It's not a violent death. I mean, ghosts usually…"

"It's her, I know it. That place has that weird little old lady smell, like-like violets and Aspercreme."

Doyle read the screen over Willow's shoulder. "No, they didn't find the body for three weeks. So it wasn't violets there at the end I'm thinking."

"This is easy. Little old lady ghost, probably hanging around because she thinks she left the iron on. Let's get a nice cleansing spell and do this thing!"

"Well, this is not an easy spell," Angel commented, glancing over a spell book he had in his hand, "I mean, hawthorn berries and lungwort and bile. We need bile. I don't know if we can get everything."

"I can," Doyle said, "I know this guy in Korea town, he does these spells all the time. I can get stuff from him."

"Oh goody! Another one of Doyle's guys," Cordelia said sarcastically, "Tell me, is this the same guy that helped me find my poltergeist-alicious apartment?"

Willow cleared her throat, bringing the attention back to her. "I've got stuff. Giles made sure I was stocked up, just in case."

"Who would've known Giles would be such a worrywart underneath that British exterior," Xander joked.

"Okay, Willow go get what you need," Angel instructed, "Doyle, go with her in case she doesn't have something." When Doyle, Willow, and Oz made their way out the door, Angel continued to dish out orders. "Xander, you stay here with Cordy. Buffy and I are gonna try and get some more information. Maybe Kate can find something."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh great… Kate," she mumbled and followed her boyfriend out the door and to his car, "You know, if you don't remember, we have our own little resident hacker here in LA. Willow could probably get information faster than Kate."

"Well, that might be true, but Willow's working on the spell." They climbed into his car and he turned to her. "How come you don't want to see Kate?"

Buffy shifted in her seat. "I don't know. There's just something about her that annoys me."

"You don't have to come if you don't want to."

Buffy sighed, "No, no, it's okay. I'll just grin and bear it. See," she gave him a partially genuine grin, "Me grinning and bearing."

* * *

Meanwhile in the office, Xander sat in front of the Cordelia's desk, playing with a Rubik's Cube he found in one of the drawers. The wondering thought of how the complicated toy was even in Cordelia's desk crossed his mind.

As his concentration was mostly focused on the contraption, he barely listened as Cordelia rambled on about her bad luck streak and something about Patrick Swayze being dead.

Finally, Xander gave up on the cube and stood up from his chair.

"Okay," he placed the toy he was playing with on the desk, "this thing is going to fry my brain worse than video games. All I need is fresh air and a box of donuts to get me going again. You wanna come?"

Cordelia shook her head in refusal. "I'm going to stay here and wait like Angel said."

Xander dramatically gasped with a hand on his chest. "Wow. This thing has really gotten to you if you're actually taking orders." Cordelia's response was just a nasty glare. Xander smirked at his ex and headed out the door.

"I'll be back in a few baring a box of sugar frosted dough. See ya later."

* * *

It wasn't long after Xander left the building when the phone started to ring. Cordy decided to ignore it and let the machine get it like she did with Aura's call.

"Cordelia, are you there," came Angel's voice over the machine, "Look I think we can end this whole thing."

Cordy rushed to the phone and picked it up. "I'm here. About time you called. You got something?"

"Meet me at the apartment and we'll figure out what to do."

"Okay." She hung up the phone and rushed to her haunted apartment.

When she got there, she found it dark and empty. She scanned the dark room for the vampire or at least his girlfriend.

"Cordeila," Angel's voice called out, "I'm in the bedroom."

Cordy went down the hallway and stepped into her bedroom. "Angel?"

She quickly searched the room and didn't see her boss anywhere. She turned around and suddenly jumped back when she found the specter of Maude Pearson behind her.

"You got my call," Maude said in Angel's voice.

Cordelia made a mad dash out of the bedroom. When she reached the front door, she found that it wouldn't open. Then, a strong, invisible force made her fly backwards through the air and was thrown against a wall. As she picked herself up, Maude was standing in front of her again.

"Poor thing," Maude said in her own voice, "You just don't fit in around here, do you? Too bad you wouldn't leave my son alone."

Cordelia stared at the ghost in a mix of confusion and fear. "Your-your son?"

* * *

After fishing some information from Kate, they found out that Cordelia's ghost had a son named Dennis, who disappeared with some girl right after his mom's death.

Buffy quickly left the office to make a phone call to inform their crew.

"Ah… Angel Investigations," Doyle answered, "We hope you're helpless- No, wait, that's…"

Buffy smirked at his confusion. "It's Buffy. Put Cordelia on."

"She's not here. Hang on a sec, there's a message."

Doyle hit the button on the machine, replaying the conversation Cordelia had with someone who sounded just like Angel.

"That's not Angel," Buffy said looking at her boyfriend who was now standing next to her. "Wait there. Angel and I are coming now." She immediately hung up. "The ghost tricked Cordy to go to the apartment," Buffy explained to Angel, "We gotta hurry."

* * *

When the group finally charged into Cordelia's place, they found her hanging limply from the ceiling with a cord wrapped around her neck.

Angel and Doyle made quick work to get her down and the cord off of her neck. Luckily, they got to her in time before her oxygen was completely cut off. Angel laid her against the couch as she started to cough.

At the same time she started to pant and sob hysterically. "The furniture and, and the wall and the blood, she's doing it- she's doing it all! She'll be back. She's stronger than us. She knows me."

"We can stop her," Angel tried to calm her down, which was to no avail.

"No, no, we can't stop her!"

"She's made a connection with you right," Buffy took over, "She thinks you're someone, someone she blames for her murder. Cordelia, answer me."

"I-I'm- I'm taking her son away. She thinks I'm taking her son."

As they were talking, a sudden gust of wind started to pick up in the house and got stronger by the second.

"That's good," Angel said, "Her son was the one that killed her. All right, you're playing a role in her delusion, that gives you power. You're the one that can stop her." He turned to Doyle and Willow, "Start the binding circle. Willow, find the spell."

Doyle started to put the supplies they got in a small circle, while Xander and Oz stood on either side of it, trying their best to light the candles they were holding.

Angel and Buffy stayed by Cordelia as she continued to cry.

"Bring the truth in the light," Willow began to chant over the wind, "Let the villain be revealed that a soul can take its rightful place for eternity."

As Willow chanted, bigger things began to fly around the room ad crashed against the wall.

"Here she comes," Doyle yelled, "She knows what we're doing."

"We need Cordelia now," Willow told them.

"Cordy, get up," Xander yelled at her.

"Adduce veritatum in lucem. Accipitat laura suam requiatam reposcant anima suum regnum. Cordelia, stand in the circle and strike at its center!"

Holding onto the couch while still sobbing, "What?"

Angel grabbed her by the shoulders. "Damn it. Do you know what this means? The ghost is in contact with you, she's given you that."

Maude appeared behind Cordy and whispered to her, "They don't care about you. They want you to fail. They know you're a tarted up little whore."

Xander watched from his place next to the circle and saw that Buffy and Angel's efforts to try and snap Cordelia out of it weren't working. He handed Doyle his candle and squeezed in between the couple so he was in front of Cordelia.

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Come on Cordy! This isn't you. You can stop all of this. Do it!"

Cordy pushed him away and curled into a ball. "I can't."

"Look at you. Are you gonna let her do this to you? You never let me bring you down no matter what I say. How is this crusty, dead, old lady any different!"

Buffy gave it another try and grabbed her, "Damn it. You're Cordelia Chase. Are you just going to lie there like a weakling? Get off your ass and be tough!"

Cordelia sobbed even harder. "I can't- I can't"

"You're the biggest pain I've ever seen," Buffy dragged the hysterical brunette to the circle, "Do it now!"

"This isn't going to work," Angel stated, looking around the apartment and then at the broken Cordelia.

"And it's getting dodgy in here," Oz added and swatted a book that was heading towards Willow's head.

"We've gotta get her out of here. This isn't safe. Now. Let's go." Doyle and Xander picked Cordelia up and they all headed towards the door.

Suddenly, the door swung open and they were all staring at guns being pointed at them, The guns were held by Griff, three other Kailiff demons, and one human.

"No one's going anywhere," Griff threatened, and then lead his mafia looking gang into the apartment.

One of the humans looked at the destruction around them with his gun still held up. "What's going on?"

"You were going to let him pay," Angel growled.

"I lied," Griff returned.

Maude appeared behind the five thugs. "No more people," she yelled.

The human turned around to look at the angry old woman.

"What's this," he asked, sounding scared.

Griff kept his eyes on Angel and Buffy. "Ignore her. It's just a ghost."

Maude materialized behind Cordelia. "Get out!"

Cordelia shrieked as the light bulbs blew up and more things flew through the air.

Willow pulled Cordelia out of the way when the frightened human thug shot at Maude, and they ducked behind the couch.

The bullet went right through the ghost and hit a tile that lined the fireplace.

"You broke it," Maude angrily yelled at the man.

Angel roughly pulled Griff forward and began to fight him. The human ran away in fear, not tough enough to face situations like these. Buffy faced off with one of the bigger demons while Xander and Oz took on another. The last Kailiff demon pulled Doyle up by his shirt and threatened him with his gun.

"Look, I'll pay," Doyle frantically said, "Really! I've got a fin in my wallet right now."

"This is my house," Maude said from the kitchen and opened a drawer with knives telekinetically.

Angel knocked Griff's gun out of his hand and punched him down. He turned his head and luckily saw what Maude was about to do.

"Knives," Angel warned his crew.

Doyle ducked when they headed his way and then buried themselves in the abdomen of the demon he was fighting.

Willow and Cordelia moved to the wall when Griff threw Angel over the sofa.

"Cordelia," Willow yelled when the brunette was ripped from the wall and flew backwards towards the bedroom. Willow ran after her, but was blocked when the door slammed in her face.

In the bedroom, Cordelia stood in front of Maude, still crying in fear.

"I'll leave. I'm sorry your son killed you. You can have the apartment. Just let me go," Cordy begged.

"It's too late for that," Maude said.

"No."

"You know what happens next. Your friends are dirty. They ruined my nice home."

Cordelia dropped to the floor while sobbing uncontrollably.

"I know you were trouble right from the start," Maude continued, "I'm surprised that my son didn't smell the stench of poverty and failure on you- I can."

"I'm sorry."

"You better be sorry, you stupid little bitch."

At that last word, Cordelia immediately stopped crying and slowly looked up at Maude. "I'm a bitch."

"Take off the bed sheets, make a noose," Maude ordered, "Go on. It'll all be over soon."

Cordelia slowly stood up and looked Maude in the eye, her confidence building up once again. The word "bitch" seemed to be the magic button to snap her back into place.

"I'm not a sniveling whiny little Cry-Buffy," Cordelia stated, "I'm the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history. I take crap from no one."

"You are going to make yourself a noose and put it around…"

"Back off! Polygrip," Cordelia snapped, cutting Maude's demand off and getting in her face so she backed up slowly. "You think you're bad? Being all mean and haunty? Picking on poor pathetic Cordy? Well, get ready to haul your wrinkly translucent ass out of this place, because lady, the bitch is back."

Maude was shocked that the girl was actually talking back to her in that manner. "Do you think that I'm going to take that from trash like you?"

"I'll tell you what I think. I think that you're going to pack your little ghost bags and get the HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

At Cordy's exclamation, there was a flash and Maude was thrown backwards through the bedroom door.

* * *

At the same time, Buffy and Angel dropped the demons they defeated, including Griff. The strong wind ceased and the stuff flying around the apartment fell to the ground.

Buffy helped Xander and Oz up from their places from the floor, while Angel helped Doyle.

"Thanks Buffy," Oz said and moved to stand by his girlfriend.

Xander rubbed his sore shoulder. "You know, we had him."

Buffy grinned. "Right, and you were just lying on the floor to give the demon a breather, am I correct?"

"I was just about to strike when you intercepted him."

Buffy just patted his back in response. Everybody then turned their heads when Cordelia strode out of the bedroom.

"What happened," Willow questioned her, "You did it!"

"Yeah, well, she pissed me off."

"Or maybe you found her center," Angel said.

Cordy suddenly looked up at them, her brown eyes were glazed over an eerie shade of white and she had a grim look on her face.

"Cordy," Doyle asked with worry, "What's wrong?"

Without an answer, Cordelia picked up a metal lamp stand and began to demolish the wall she had so much problems with.

"Cordelia," Angel exclaimed, and everyone stared at her as she continued to beat down the wall. She finally made a hole through the dry wall and brick, and the group was surprised to find a skeleton bound with ropes. Cordelia dropped the lamp, back to her normal state, and backed up to stand with her friends.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Maude had appeared by them and screamed when her son was revealed. As the ghost stared sorrowfully at him, the skeleton started to glow from within. The white light streamed out and around the skeleton.

"Dennis I presume," Oz stated.

"And probably not too happy with his mom," Doyle finished.

The light manifested itself into a shape of a skull and the sounds of angry moans and snarls filled the room.

"Dennis, it was for your own good," Maude pleaded, "I had to do it. She would have made your life miserable. I'm sorry! Please! Please!"

There was a great gust of wind and the light lunged toward Maude. It went through her and obliterated her specter, taking her away from their lives for good.

"I knew I hated that wall," Cordelia growled.

* * *

The next night, Willow and Buffy were lounging on their living room couch when there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Willow volunteered and took the short walk to the door. She opened to find their favorite vampire on the other side.

"Hey Angel," she greeted him cheerfully and moved aside so he could enter.

"Hey Willow," he returned with his lopsided smile. He walked into the apartment and made a beeline towards his girlfriend. He leaned over the back of the couch and kissed her cheek.

"Hi," he whispered in her ear.

"Hi," she smiled. She tugged on his hand and he went around to sit next to her.

"What are you watching?"

"The Goonies. It's a movie from the '80s. Classic."

"Oh."

"How's Doyle," Willow questioned Angel, who had just come from the half-demon's apartment. "Did you make him see the error of his ways?"

"Not really," he sighed, "All he did was add another bolt to his door. But he promised to eventually tell his life story, why he lives the way he does. How's Cordelia?"

"Living large and poltergeist free," Buffy answered.

"Well, minus Dennis," Willow said, "He makes Casper look like Oscar the Grouch. He's so polite."

"Anyways, we didn't really get to hang out that long, because as soon as Cordy answered the phone, we got the boot. So it's safe to say that Cordelia Chase is back to normal."

A little while later, Willow turned her head to see that the couple's attention was totally engrossed in each other instead of the movie. She smiled at her friend's happiness and rose from the couch.

"I'm gonna go down the hall, see what Oz and Xander are up to," she told Angel and Buffy, "See ya guys later."

The two actually separated for a moment to say bye to Willow.

As the red head reached the door, she heard Buffy burst out in laughter. She looked over her shoulder to see Angel run after the giggling slayer and then heard Buffy's bedroom door slam shut as the laughter continued.

Willow shook her head and as she exited the apartment, she muttered to herself with a chuckle, "Hornballs."

END

Next: "Sense and Senstivity"


End file.
